The One Who Isn't There
by TheFanFictionalist
Summary: It's been years since Fairy Tail's war against the Alvarez Empire and Zeref, and things are getting back to normal for them. As normal as it gets in that guild, but Erza's been experiencing strange dreams about a mysterious person. She isn't alone as her friends have similar occurrences, but no one recognizes this person at all. Who is he and what connects them to him?
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:** Hey everyone thanks for taking the time to read this side fic or my second fanfic; not really sure. This has been in my mind for a while and I finally got around to write it. I'd really like to know what you guys think about it and if you want to see more of it, but don't worry if you're following my first fic. I'm still going to be working on Emotion Potion and an Ice Mage or EP and AIM for short, so it'll be something I'll work on the side. This is a re-upload due to some strange text popping in and I had to look into it, by the way this may contain spoilers to certain events if you haven't been following the manga lately but not too many. I guess that wraps up what I had to say so review and enjoy The One Who Isn't there!

* * *

Prologue

It was an orange sky above her, the sun was setting and a cool breeze swept past her as she let her tears fall into the river's water beneath her. Her one good eye kept dropping tears as the pain in her heart wouldn't cease to leave her alone, constantly filling her young life with grief. Her heart yearned for those she had abandoned back at the Tower of Heaven and wanted nothing more than to be spared this pain and save them.

The sound of rushing footsteps reached her ears as someone came running down the hillside behind her. She knew who was coming down the hill, but at the same time it was as if she didn't know at all. It was someone that always bothered her, questioning why she was at the guild and what she was doing there if she wasn't getting along with the others.

"Get ready Erza, cuz here I come! I wont lose to you this time!" Came his voice, it sounded so familiar yet so foreign at the same time. She knew the voice, but it didn't register in her mind.

She let her thoughts go and turned to face this person calling her out, if he wanted to lose again than she wouldn't stop him. A stray tear fell down her eye when she looked and the person stopped dead in his tracks, although Erza couldn't tell who it was. His young body was visible, wearing what she believed to be either shorts or really long black boxers, however his face was shadowed out by his hair.

Erza couldn't make out what the boy looked like facial feature wise and didn't understand why, but she replied nonetheless to him. She needed to keep her image up as strong person who wasn't going to let a little taunting get to her, it got her this far in the guild already.

"If you want to get beat up so bad then come at me. What are you scared?" She said to the boy since he hadn't moved an inch and his body seemed to be in a shocked position. She quickly wiped away the stray tears she had and faced him with a sharp glare.

He still stood in an awkward position and she was beginning to lose her patience, but was surprised to hear what he said next.

"W-Why were you crying?" He asked as Erza was still trying to grasp the fact that someone asked her what's wrong.

"I-I get nervous around other people." She replied as the thought of letting down so many more people would break her heart even more than it already is.

"Well you're not alone now, so why are you crying?" He asked her and her heart had stopped in that moment, this boy somehow knew that on the inside she was lonely. He understood her, he actually understood how it felt to be lonely.

He started marching forward until he stood next her by the water's edge and sat down cross legged. Erza knew he said something, but she just let it go and focused back onto the sun set standing next to the mysterious boy. For once in her young life she was truly happy again and a long forgotten smile spread across her face.

* * *

Erza woke up with a jolt, this had been the seventh time she had that dream in a month and it didn't compare to the ones over the years. She first had this dream about three years ago around the anniversary of the day she joined Fairy Tail. She couldn't explain it at all and only this time she was able to see almost all of his body except for his face.

Whoever this person was meant more to her than anything else and yet no one in the guild came close to looking like him. He was a complete mystery to her, but she kept it to herself not wanting to worry the guild if she was being plagued by something. She didn't want that for them at all now that after four years they had finally recovered from Fairy Tail's war against the Alvarez Empire.

It may have lasted only for a few weeks, but the revelations that war gave had pushed many of Erza's guild mates to their limit. Everyone was shocked to know the truth behind Fairy Tail and those of some of its members, but they overcame it like the family they are. Although there was a small fragment during that time line that was fuzzy for her, yet she never knew why.

Erza shook away her thoughts and got ready for the day, she needed to stay focused since she was the next guild master in training now that Master Makarov was deciding to step down soon. She tried her best to let those dreams stay what they were and be happy for the arrival of her teammate returning from his honeymoon. She knew Natsu wasn't much for traditional things, but the guild was happy for him after what he's been through because of both Alvarez and Zeref.

With a quick shower and a freshly polished armor on Erza made her way towards the guild, smiling towards any of the citizens of Magnolia that she came across. The city had improved as best as it could as well, one of their major battles nearly demolishing a fourth of the city. She stopped part way in her walk when she passed the bridge from her dream and took time to give it a look.

Erza had this strong connection to this seemingly insignificant place, but it always drew a blank in her mind when she thought why it did. Giving up on what it would mean she continued her walk towards the guild hall ready to start the day and welcome the married couple. Though in the back of her mind, she wanted a sketch done about the boy to see if it would jog her memory.

 _ **"Maybe I should ask Reedus to draw him for me?"**_ The red head thought as the large guild building was coming into view.

As she stepped inside she was greeted by many hellos or good mornings with the occasional waving of a person's hand. Life in the guild hadn't changed much over the years, everyone was still the same rowdy bunch they were years ago except for a few changes.

Obviously the increase of new mages was apparent, but those who were the original bulk of the guild had changed. Elfman and Evergreen were one of the first married couples in the guild, Wendy had grown up to look like her Edolas counterpart and was now dating Romeo, Levy had finally started to date Gajeel and are close to their two year anniversary, plus Lucy had published a few successful books. Then there was the newly wed couple of Natsu and Lisanna that are on their way back now.

"Hey Erza, over here" Lucy called as she noticed the requip mage had finally entered the guild, a few scraps of paper around her as she was jotting down her latest idea.

"Good morning Lucy, I see you're being busy today." Erza said as she took a seat with her teammate, who smiled up at her for a brief moment before continuing her writing.

"I sure am, there's this story that's been picking at my brain for a while and I've decided to give it a shot." She replied, finishing up writing on her current page as she leaned back to crack her fingers.

"Care to say what this one's about Lucy?" Erza asked as she picked up one of her discarded papers from off the floor.

"No problem Erza, it took me a while to get it straight, but this is how I see it going," Lucy began and Erza sat attentively. "It involves a man who's lost everything in his younger years, but as he travels the continent to search for new meaning in his life, he comes across this town with an interesting group of people and it slowly changes him the longer he's with them." Lucy said happily, having just got some of her plot finally expressed in her own image.

"Very interesting Lucy, looks like you're making your main character a man this time" Erza said since the blonde had only done female protagonists in the past.

"Yeah well this story was actually buzzing itself in mind for a while now and I decided to go through with it." She said smiling towards her, going through a few scraps of paper looking for something. "I've actually got a character description around here to show you how he'll look like, I was hoping you'd like to hear it and see Reedus draw him out."

"Sure I wouldn't mind, but is it simply his face or entire person?" She asked, since Erza knows that it falls between those two categories of created characters; completed face or completed character.

"Sorry Erza it's just his face, but I can tell you he looks pretty cute in my mind. Hopefully Reedus gets it just right like he always does." She said still looking, before a smile spread on her face as she took out a piece of paper from the pile. "Here it is!"

"Go on Lucy, I want to hear how you describe this cute protagonist." Erza said, readying herself to picture this man from Lucy's upcoming novel.

"Alright let's see... He has pale tone skin that is very reminiscent of snow, a scar at the top of his left brow although you can't see it very well because it's hidden underneath his black spike hair. He hardly shows a lot of emotion, kind of the the type who's cool, calm and collected. His usual face is mainly serious, but what he lacks in his face is better seen in his eyes." Lucy seemed to very intrigued by her character description, like any author would be, but Erza felt a small pounding in her head as she heard more of his appearance.

"His eyes are droopy with dark blue pupils, but they have this strong look of seeing so much in such a short lifetime. Even more is that his eyes can almost read a person like an open book." Lucy was internally gushing at the thought of actually seeing her character in real life, full believing that he would be as hot as she thought he would.

"Well he does sound like he would be a handsome person Lucy, I'm sure Reedus will do this character justice." Erza said as she helped Lucy pick up her things so they could find the picto mage somewhere in the guild.

After placing her pages in the right order and her character sheet at the top, Lucy and Erza made their way around the guild in search of Reedus. It hadn't taken them long for the two to find him and he happily agreed to start the painting. Setting up his easel, the picto mage started his work following closely to the paper Lucy had given him to the letter. The two beauties waited nearby to allow Reedus to work in peace and discussed a bit further into detail about this new book.

Close to a half-hour later, Reedus was almost complete with the final brush stroke although he felt this strange pounding in his head as he kept painting. It felt to be a headache just coming along and he knew it would pass, but after a while it didn't. Oddly enough, he felt like the painting of the young man had something to do with it and he didn't know why. With the last stroke he was finished, yet at a closer look the young man looked very familiar to him.

He signaled the two woman that he was finished, however that feeling of familiarity never went away as if he should know that person. Lucy and Erza had made their way over and the celestial mage was more than happy that Reedus had gotten his look just perfect, yet this eerie feeling of knowing him crept up on her like a cold breeze. Erza on the other hand felt the pounding return, but much stronger than before and it began to hurt her mind.

This person was someone she knew, but who could it be? He doesn't look like anyone she remembers at all, neither from her childhood or from the guild. She felt like the room was spinning and was trying her best to keep herself together, but the continuous pounding was keeping her away from that. It wasn't right, something wasn't right and she knew that whoever that dark haired man is had to do with it.

The room still felt like it was spinning and Erza couldn't balance herself well anymore, which drew even more concern from Lucy and Reedus. They took notice of how she swayed from left to right as if she were drunk, but that wasn't the case since it was too early and Erza hardly drank. Their concern turned to panic when Erza fell to her knees, her eyes watery with a look of pain on her face, but what caused their panic to double was the blood curdling scream she let out.

 _"You don't always have to wear your armor Erza, you can count on me"_ A gentle voice rang in her ears as the pounding intensified, one that she's heard somewhere before.

 _ **"That voice. I know that voice, but from where?"**_ Erza thought to herself, the pain becoming unbearable until she let out another blood curdling scream that the whole guild heard once again.

The intense pain and pounding from her brain slowly faded away along with her consciousness. she could feel the running footsteps of her guild mates and the worried stricken voice of Lucy, but they sounded muffled to her ears and unclear. Through the mass of legs, she could see the guild doors wide open with the happy couple running straight for her, but what caught her interest was the blue sky above them. For out of that cloud filled blue sky there was a single gray cloud amongst all the white.

Erza focused on that singled out cloud for a while before her world slowly turned black and the voices of Lucy and the now returned Natsu faded into quietness.


	2. Do You Recognize Him?

**Author's Note:** _Here's the first chapter, not counting the prologue of course, to this fic. It's been a while since the first upload and I think it's time to update, plus this was nearly done already in comparison to the next chapter of my other fic. Without further_ _adieu, review and enjoy!_

* * *

Do You Recognize Him?

 _"You've got to open up more you know."_ It was that voice again, Erza could hear him talking to her, but all she could see is pure darkness around her.

"Who said that?" She questioned to the dark blankness, silently hoping that she got a response from the mysterious voice.

 _"Learning to do so can get you far in this guild Erza, you've got to let others in."_ The voice spoke again and the requip mage searched around her in hopes of catching at least a glimpse of something, anything really.

"Show yourself! Just exactly who do you think you are?" She wanted to feel guarded, tense in case she was attacked, but this voice held no signs of malice at all for her to react to. It was kind and she could feel some sort of connection with it, but nothing was coming to mind.

 _"Come on Erza, everyone's waiting for you."_ She tracked the voice to the silhouette of a man with wild spiky hair, his hand seeming to be outstretched for her to take.

Erza was skeptical in even reaching out for the shadowed hand, but her senses were still not picking up any danger and it was starting to unnerve her. How does this mysterious voice easily speak with her and yet she still couldn't bring herself to fight in case it attacked? In the end she decided to reach for it. As she reached, she realized that the figure kept backing away into a light behind it, leaving Erza to chase after it as the further away it got from her.

She was close, she could almost grab onto the darkened hand and hold onto it, revealing even the slightest bit of information about who this person could be. This was her chance, she knew it, but alas it didn't come this time. As she almost grasped the figure's hand, the light behind it grew brighter even though the figure still remained as a silhouette. Before she could close her palm the light had engulfed them both, the feeling gone from Erza's hand and a new light shined into her eyes as the voices of many others were soon heard.

"She's waking up!" A cheerful voice shouted as a number of people began to crowd around the infirmary bed were Erza was placed.

The red haired woman blinked a few times as her eyes became adjusted to the bright lights of the room and could make out the shapes of Natsu at her left alongside Lisanna and Lucy at her right, each of which were smiling in happiness. Her eyes had finally adjusted to see a number of people inside the infirmary, all with happy grins that their soon-to-be master had finally woken up. She rubbed her eyes a few times as Mirajane began to escort people out of the room so she could have some time to speak with her team mates now that Natsu and Lisanna had finally returned.

"Hey Erza are you alright? Me and Lisanna came back to see you screaming your lungs out before you passed out onto the floor." Natsu said worried for his big sister like model, since it was pretty scary to see her like that.

"Yeah Erza that had all of us worried, it was like you were being attacked." Lisanna added she held onto Natsu's hand, concerned for her well being.

"I'm fine, nothing seems to be in pain, but that picture...where is it?" Erza replied, wanting to know why she had reacted that way after seeing the young man in the picture Reedus drew. He may have a connection with her dreams, that voice she heard before she blacked out and possibly the pain she felt when she looked at it.

"I put it over at that corner, are you sure you want to look at it?" Lucy said as she was the first to notice how Erza became after looking at her character's drawing.

"Yes, I'll be fine Lucy, just bring it here." Erza commanded and the blonde followed through, grabbing the picture and placing it into Erza's hands.

The pain returned, but this time not as strong as before and she took a much closer look at Lucy's character. His profile looked exactly like the head of the silhouette's nearly matching it, giving her mystery man a face. Although it confused her that Lucy's character. one she claims to have made up, was nearly a match to with his hair to whoever it was speaking to her while she was unconscious.

"Hmm...Lucy when you were thinking about this character, did you experience anything out of the ordinary?" She had taken notice of the little twitches Reedus had while he painted and wondered if he too felt that weird aching sensation in his mind.

"Well it was bothering my mind non stop when I didn't write anything down about him. Distracting me a lot from my other works, but when I got down to it the bothering slowly went away." The celestial mage replied, having her share of headaches when she worked on a story only to have this one interrupt her.

"Interesting...Natsu I like for you to look at this picture and tell me if he looks familiar." Erza said as the dragon slayer nodded his head in agreement.

Erza showed Natsu the picture and immediately a wave of aching pain went off in his mind, like a major brain freeze had just started. He held one of the sides of his head as he continued to look at it and the aches hadn't stop, only when Erza retracted the photo did they slowly fade away. However he could still feel a slight ping going off in the back of his mind, almost like it was lightly tapping at his brain continuously. Erza had noticed his reaction and deduced it to be just like Reedus, but at a much higher activity rate leaving the dragon slayer to sooth his head.

"Sorry Erza, the guy doesn't look like anyone I know." Natsu replied as the requip mage clicked her tongue, not even Natsu knew him and she could think that it could go the same way with others.

"That's alright, I'll ask around if anyone else can identify him." Erza said getting off the bed and requipping her armor back on. "Oh and welcome home Natsu and Lisanna Dragneel." She added with a kind smile before exiting the room, portrait in hand, back down to the main floor of the guild.

"I hope Erza will be okay." Lucy said as Natsu looked at her questioningly, completely out of the loop on what was going on.

"What do you mean by that Lucy?" He asked as they made their way for the exit, still trying to make sense of what happened since his return.

"You saw what happened earlier, but what worries me is that she's asking people if they recognize a fictional character I made up for my new book I'm writing." Lucy replied as Natsu gave it some thought, seeing her point in all of this and Lisanna had managed to catch onto what she meant as well.

"Don't worry Lucy, Erza's going to okay. She'll get past this in no time you'll see." Lisanna said as Lucy smiled in return for the white haired mage's words.

* * *

Erza had been asking many of her guild mates the same question about the man in the painting, but they all had the same answer of never seeing him before in their life. Only in a select few did she notice similar reactions that resembled that of Reedus' and Natsu's, but they were mostly coming from members who were here since she was a young girl in the guild. She was growing tiresome with no results to her search and the last two people she was going to ask were Juvia and not so surprisingly Lyon.

Those two had been dating for about three years now, although Juvia was acting strange a year prior claiming that something was missing. After that year she was her old self again and became quite good friends with Lyon. After so many times that Lyon asked her out, Juvia had finally agreed to go out with him. Needless to say that he was a happy man when she agreed and the two have been together couple was Erza's last chance to see if they knew the man, she'd be okay if either of them said he looked vaguely familiar from somewhere.

"Hello Erza-san, is there something you needed?" Juvia asked as Erza took the time to settle herself down in a seat across from the couple.

"Yes there is and it's a good thing you're here too Lyon, maybe you may know something too. I need you both to take a look at a picture and tell me if either if you recognize the person in it, okay?" The red head replied as the white haired ice mage gave her a questioning glance.

"Very well, I'll help you as well although, if I may ask, I need for you to get the guild's attention right after, alright?" Lyon gripped Juvia's hand tighter for some reason and Erza agreed to his request so long as she got an answer.

Erza had then presented the picture of the raven haired man and immediately she could tell a surge of pain had swept over them. They both had grunted in pain as they held onto their aching heads, but had kept as quite as possible not to alarm anyone else. Erza waited with concern, hoping these two wouldn't succumb to unconsciousness like she did before she got an answer. Luckily they both had managed through it and were trying to settle themselves down after that strange mental attack and Lyon had let out a sigh once he was able to speak again.

"I'm afraid I don't know him Erza, but he does look like someone I've seen before if that's any help." He replied with an apologetic smile turning to look at his girlfriend only to be shocked at the scene before him. "Juvia-chan are you okay!?"

"I-I'm fine Lyon-sama, why do you ask?" She too had barely recovered from looking at the picture, however her gaze still remained on it.

"You have tears streaming down your eyes. Are you sure you're okay?" Lyon asked worriedly, Erza already pulling out a handkerchief for the water mage who took it gratefully.

"Juvia doesn't know why she has tears in her eyes, but Juvia can assure Lyon-sama that she is fine. As for you're question Erza-san, this person does strike Juvia as someone she may have seen before, however to say that Juvia knows this man is not the case." The water mage replied, wiping away the mysterious tears that had escaped her eyes.

"Thank you for your time and I apologize if this has inconvenienced you two in any way. As for your request Lyon, I'll do it for you right now." Erza said taking back the picture, slightly to Juvia's personal dismay, and was about to silence everyone until Lyon had stopped her.

"It's no problem at all and please, I think that can wait for a while." Lyon said as Erza nodded her head in agreement as she went off back to join her team, but took a small detour to speak with Mirajane.

"Mira is the Master here?" She had already asked the barmaid about the picture and her reaction was slightly on par with Natsu's. This time though, she needed to know if the master may know something about it, hopefully she can bring her case to him.

"Sorry Erza, the Master's out on business with Mest. They should be returning soon though." Mira replied wiping down a mug as the requip mage nodded and went back to her team.

"Erza if I could ask, what's going on with you and my character's portrait?" Lucy asked as the rest of Team Natsu had witnessed the red head go from person to person asking them about her character.

Erza was unsure is she should discuss her findings with her team just yet, before the Master could give her a reasonable answer to what is happening. She gave it some thought, wondering if she should involve them in her search for this man or not. Lucy's character may be fictional to her, but there could be a possibility that he may truly exist. If Lyon and Juvia's answers could give even the slightest confirmation that this man was real than she was willing to take the chance. He's connected to them and her, but by what? In the end, Erza decided that she should at least tell them what's been happening.

"I didn't want to tell you this until I got an answer from the Master, but I believe in all of you on keeping this private between all of us." Erza said in a hushed tone, waiting on confirmation from all those at her table.

"No problem Erza, we'll keep it between us." Lisanna said, speaking for their entire team, knowing that if Erza was this serious than so should they.

"Good, now lately I've been having these strange dreams about a boy I don't recognize at all. He seems to know me very well, but I could never make out who he is and in the latest dream I had involved him again although I couldn't see his face..." Erza had began to recount what was happening to her, from that point towards the voice she was hearing before she went unconscious and woke up again. She had taken notice of the worried looks her friends were giving her and waited for someone to speak up.

"That's sounds pretty rough Erza, but what does that have to do with asking us about the picture?" Natsu asked as he too became cautious of what was going with Erza, he was concerned that she was being targeted by someone into having those dreams and hearing a voice.

"I asked because I've notice that some people are affected by it, the ones who had reacted looked to be going through a headache of some sort. What really led me to believe that something was definitely amiss was Lyon and Juvia's reaction." She said as they made sure to watch out for their guild mates, wanting to make sure no one starts a large scale misunderstanding in the guild.

"How did they react?" Lisanna asked as she took a quick glance at the couple who were simply chatting with one another.

"Similar to how I did, except they hadn't fallen unconscious and Juvia had tears coming down her eyes. She said she didn't even know they were there and they each replied that he does look like someone they've seen before." She had discussed the most recent event in her "quest" of sorts, however Lucy was somewhat skeptical of all this.

"Maybe they have seen him before and so did I, just to accidentally use a real person as the basis for my male character." Lucy spoke up, feeling that she must have subconsciously thought of that person when she was thinking of the appearance.

"I had thought of that as well, but for you to remember a single individual out of thousands that you've seen is a little far fetched. Not to mention that it is highly unlikely that each person in this guild hall has seen the same person at least once." Erza had explained her take on why that wasn't possible and Lucy had to agree with her on that. A single person couldn't stand out so much for everyone to at least feel like they've seen them, unless they were an important individual.

"Hmmm, then you maybe right that whoever this is must be connected to those dreams you're having and the headaches the others are getting." Lisanna said trying her best to shed at least more light on this subject.

"Let me see that picture again Erza." Natsu asked as he was handed the portrait, already feeling something going on in his mind as he looked at this person's face. "Ice prick..." He said in a low tone out of random.

"What did you say Natsu?" Erza asked as he reeled back in fright, too caught up in the character's cold eyes that seemed interesting to him.

"I said 'ice prick' because he kinda looks like a cold douche to me." Natsu replied as he repeated the word again, oddly finding it satisfying to call Lucy's character that.

"Don't insult an author's characters!" Lucy exclaimed snatching back her portrait from his hands as Lisanna began reprimanding him to be considerate with his words. "Besides my character always has a lingering feeling of sadness or just feeling blue, making him interesting,"

"Tch...more like gray." Natsu said to no one in particular, but Erza had found it interesting for the dragon slayer to call him gray.

"Why gray Natsu?" Erza was curious, there were other words that could've been used and yet he chose gray.

"I dunno, cuz he looks pretty bland to me. Nothing looks interesting about him besides the ice prick's eyes." He said which earned him a smack up the head from Lisanna as he hadn't listen to her when she told him to be considerate about his words.

"Appearances don't make up a character Natsu, it's there back stories and personalities that do. This is simply putting a face for my character that I may use as the cover of my book." Lucy said as she too reprimanded Natsu alongside Lisanna.

As for Erza she was still on the subject of using a color to describe the man, it was weird in a way that it seemed to fit. She looked at the portrait picture again and this time took a closer look at his eyes and was intrigued by them too. Reedus sure had done good work in Lucy's description of his eyes being able to read you like an open book.

 _"I'll do what I want till the end. Cut me down if you want."_ It was the voice again, but this time it was defiant, as if he was trying to go against her. Not many people have done that and only Natsu chooses to willingly, of course he does wind up in a crater in the end.

Erza put the portrait down and refocused her attention back to her team, all she had to do now was wait for the Master's return and then she could settle things a bit more properly. Hopefully he'd have a solution for her because she didn't have a single idea what this all meant and it didn't feel like an attack on her psyche, far from it. For the meantime, the red head would busy herself with other tasks and remember to get the attention of the guild for Lyon when he was ready.

* * *

A few hours had passed when the guild doors had opened to reveal Master Makarov standing beside Mest who was holding a dark blue duffel bag over his shoulder. Erza immediately went towards them, prepared to ask him for a quick meeting but Lyon chose this time to walk alongside her. She was confused as to what he would want, until she remembered that he wanted everyone's attention and signaled her to make sure they looked at the stage. The requip mage nodded and continued her way towards the aging master.

"Master there is something I wish to discuss with you..." Erza said as she stood in front of him, but the Master had raised his had to gain her attention.

"I'll speak with you soon enough Erza, but please be courteous to the newest addition into our guild and family." Makarov said as he signaled for the girl who was lagging a bit behind to step forward.

Coming into the guild hall, no taller than Mest's lower chest was a young girl around eleven years old by Erza's guess. The young girl's skin was a few shades darker than Cana's and her dark brown hair barely reached the nape of her neck in the same style Erza remembered having hers in. Her eyes were a pretty shade of hazel, however they were slightly darker than what the color originally is. She wore a dark blue jacket with a fur trimming inside and around the neck line, right over a regular blue tee, a pair of dark denim jeans and interestingly enough she wore black combat boots. Strange for an eleven year old to wear, but Erza couldn't judge since she has been wearing a metal breastplate since she was nine.

"Come now child, this is your new home. Greet your new fellow guild mates." Makarov said to the girl as she stepped in front of Erza, although the red head could see a look of uncertainty in her eyes.

"Hello, my name's Yuki Mizuno." The little girl said as she looked up at Erza who was surprised at how much confidence she had when compared to others who were meeting the Titania of Fairy Tail in person for the first time.

"Hello Yuki, my name's Erza Scarlet. Welcome to your new home." Erza greeted back with a smile as she saw Lyon signaling her from the corner of her by the stage. "Oh that's right, Lyon needs the guild to be quiet."

"What for?" Mest asked as he too had taken notice of the ice mage waving to get Erza's attention.

"We'll soon find out" Erza replied making her way towards the center of the guild, Yuki looking at her with an interested eye. "EVERYONE QUIET DOWN!" She shouted and immediately the noise level dropped to the point you could hear a pin drop. "Good, Lyon has something to say so focus your attention at the stage."

Lyon took this as his cue to speak, "Hello everyone, I asked Erza to gain you're attention because there is a very important question I'd like to ask my beautiful Juvia-chan." Said mage blushed instantly and made her way towards the stage to stand right next to him.

"Now with you all here; her friends, her family, I'd like to show you how much I care for this woman standing right next to me." Lyon said and many of the girls were beginning to hold their breaths and squeal when they saw the ice mage take a knee in front of Juvia and the men began to cheer for him as well.

"Juvia since the first time I saw you, I had fallen in love with you. You had made me the happiest man in the world when you said yes three years ago to date me, and now I hope you say yes again." He reached into his pant pocket and pulled out a blue box, opening it to reveal a droplet shaped diamond on a gold ring. "Juvia Lockser will you marry me?"

"Yes! Juvia will marry Lyon-sama!" The water mage replied excitedly as the guild burst into cheers of joy at the newly betrothed couple.

"Well it seems that we came just in time Mest." Makarov said as a happy smile formed on his lips, happy to know that another one of his children has began a new chapter in their life.

"Yes Master, we sure did." Mest replied with a smile of his own as he handed Yuki the duffel bag, all the while the young girl watched the scene play out without reacting like the rest of the girls.

"Come with me Yuki, I'll show you around and introduce you to everyone. We can start with my team to get things going." Erza said as the young brunette walked in front of her with an interesting expression on her face, it looked like one of relief with a bit of pity as well.

"It doesn't look like he needed to worry for her happiness anymore." Yuki said to herself as she continued to walk towards the table were a pink haired man was complaining to a blonde woman, however Erza had actually caught what she had said.

 _ **"Does she know about Juvia somehow? And who is this 'He' she was referring to?"**_ Erza knew it wasn't correct to be weary of your own guild mates, but she couldn't help wondering what was the agenda behind Yuki Mizuno. Where did the Master pick her up and what is there to know about her and her magic.

For now, Erza would leave things be and let everyone enjoy celebrating, but she was still going to talk to the Master about her problem. She also wanted info on their new guild mate, so she would have a better understanding of who she will be looking after. There are many things she needed to deal with and what Yuki had said earlier has left her with an ominous feeling, something isn't right and the factors at play haven't led her to anything yet.


	3. Trained By The Best?

**Author's Note:** _I feel bad that I don't give this story as much time as I do with my first one, but I'm doing what I can to make up for it. Hopefully all you great readers and fellow author's like this chapter. To answer a guest's review, it's a little early to decide on pairings aside from the implied Lyvia and NaLi, but we'll see as the story progresses. With that out of the way, review and enjoy!_

* * *

Trained By The Best?

"But it was my honest opinion Lucy!" Natsu whined as she crossed her arms and turned away from him, much like how his wife was doing as well.

"That still doesn't warrant you to criticize my character repeatedly, one was good enough." Lucy was simply joking around with the dragon slayer that she was very angry with him, but she just enjoyed how much he whined for some sort of forgiveness.

"Lucy's right Natsu, like I've been telling you; you need to be considerate about your opinions and only voice them a certain amount of times." Lisanna had caught on to what Lucy was doing and joined in on teasing Natsu.

"Fine...I'm sorry for calling the made up guy an ice prick. So now could you guys look at me?" The dragon slayer was glad that they both turned around and smiled, laughing at how well they've done in getting an apology from Natsu.

"Well that's nice that you've all settled it peacefully before I had to step in." Erza spoke up, gaining the attention of the team as she casually walked up to them. "Now I hope you all can introduce yourselves in a dignified manner." She added as she presented the newest member of the guild to them.

"Who's the kid?" Natsu asked as he immediately shut his mouth when he noticed the stare he was receiving from not only Erza, but the new girl as well. It was weird that the little girl had that kind of affect on him.

"This, Natsu, is the latest addition to the guild, please welcome Yuki Mizuno. She came along with the Master when he arrived." Erza said as she gave the little brunette a small nudge for her to take a closer step.

"It's great to be a part of this guild, I'm in your care from now on." Yuki said, although there wasn't a great deal of excitement coming from her tone compared to other kids that got a chance to join the guild.

"Welcome to the guild Yuki, I'm Lucy Heartfilia." Lucy said giving her a small wave as Yuki made a face of recognition when she heard her name.

"You're the famous aspiring author of Fiore and one of the strongest celestial spirit mages, right? I've read your work and I enjoy reading the tales you spin of the adventures many of your characters go through." Yuki may have not sounded so interested in joining the guild, but her tone now was someone who was excited to meet a new person.

"I take it you're a fan, huh? But I'm sure I'm not that big of a deal." Lucy replied although she did like being in the spotlight and receiving praise for her work.

"I'm sure I'm a greater known mage of Fiore, right kid?" Natsu asked waiting on her reply, full knowing that stories have been circling around about his adventures.

"The infamous Natsu Dragneel, a.k.a. the Salamander of Fairy Tail, with a record of having the most destruction under his scarf consecutively for the past two years. With the redeeming factor of being the greatest wizard who was capable of defeating the Black Mage; Zeref." Yuki deadpanned while she said this, as if reading from a boring newspaper and the pink haired mage began to sulk that she didn't sound as excited like she did for Lucy. "And please don't call me kid, my name's Yuki."

Lucy burst into a fit of giggles as this was truly the first time she has ever encountered a person who wasn't overly excited to meet the great wizard Salamander. Lisanna soon followed Lucy as she too found it amusing that her husband wasn't receiving the same praise as the busty blonde did. Erza gave a short chuckle after hearing Yuki, knowing that the young girl is pretty good with her words just like any other mage within the guild although she did want to question how she knew that so well.

"Alright who's been feeding you this info kid?" Natsu questioned feeling like he was just made fun of in front of his wife and team mates.

"The name's Yuki, not kid and if you want to know so bad then fine. I got it from Sorcerer's Magazine, except the article had a lot of the word "cool!" in it for some reason." She beamed in defiance, painting the amusing picture of a possibly eleven year old girl arguing with a twenty-two year old man.

The girls began to giggle again, but Lucy already knew which person Yuki was referring to since she worked under him for nearly an entire year. Erza could see that both Yuki and Natsu would get along well with each other in their own way, but her mind began to feel fuzzy again and hoped nothing bad would come of this.

 _"Come on get up! Is that all you've got?!"_ It was the voice of the boy she saw in her dreams, but it sounds like he was talking to someone else.

 _"You get up!"_ Almost immediately Erza had recognized that voice as a child Natsu, but the dragon slayer has no recollection of meeting the man in the painting which she believes that both the dream and it are connected in some way.

"Well that leaves me to introduce myself. My name is Lisanna Dragneel and from what I've gathered from you, I'm sure you'll fit perfectly alongside the others here in the guild." The white haired mage said as she gave the young brunette a wave, to which she replied with a smile.

"You seem well informed from those magazines you've read, but there are some things you learn by getting to know a person Yuki." Erza said placing her hand on the girl's shoulder, quickly feeling her gauntlet hand begin to grow colder. "I forgot to ask, but what type of magic do you practice Yuki?"

"Oh I do molder magic, ice-make to be exact." Yuki replied as Erza nodded in understanding, although Natsu had just realized that Yuki would be the first ice mage Fairy Tail would have.

Not far from the table, Lyon had heard what the little girl's, Yuki is her name if he heard right, type of magic was and curiosity had settled in. There weren't that many ice wizards in all of Fiore let alone those who could wield ice-make like he does, so he was curious to know how she performs her spells. The thought of teaching her some new things had crossed his mind, maybe he could become a teacher for her just like Ur was to him.

"Whoa, our first ice wizard in the guild and it's a kid? Well, you've got to start somewhere." Natsu had once again spoke his mind and slightly giggled at that fact, since Lyon couldn't count due to being a part of Lamia Scale.

If anyone could see, they would have witnessed a few tick marks appearing on Yuki's head as she was angered for being called a kid again. The girls could tell that the dragon slayer was on Yuki's last nerve and waited to see what would happen to him. Lisanna would've tried to prevent something from happening, but she believed he needed to get his just desserts and looked at both Erza and Lucy to see if they were on board. Both woman caught onto Lisanna's silent message and agreed to not interfere with their new ice wizard's actions.

"Ice-make: Hammer!" Yuki made the the hammer much smaller compared to how it originally is, but still would have the same amount of impacting force. The slayer was told not to call her kid before, but having to repeat herself wasn't enough so it was time for some punishment.

The girls watched as she formed a hammer, similar in size of a regular hammer, over Natsu's head and waited for it to drop. They understood that she may have been recently trained and was trying her best to create the object into a formidable weapon, even if it was only big enough to cause him to flinch. What they didn't expect was the force behind it which sent Natsu careening straight into the ground, all the while Lyon had been watching from his table with Juvia.

He could tell that she was trained well, being able to form her creation into a smaller version of itself and still be able to maintain it's regular damage output takes time to get. Even so, the little brunette was able to send the dragon slayer into the ground with her attack, but he guessed it as Natsu being caught off guard of all things. But what caught his interest was how Yuki created her spell, being that it was too familiar to his own way. No that wasn't the case, it was if she was trained by Ur herself.

Yuki's style was easily reminiscent of his own, but it followed more in suit with the other type of ice make magic he heard about; static ice-make. He knew for a fact that he was the only one trained by Ur, so the question he had was how the young brunette was able to perform it in her style? He had to find out who had trained her and where her master is now, but for now he'll keep that in mind and enjoy his time with his fiancee.

"Wow Yuki, I didn't think you'd knock him into the ground." Lucy said as she helped Lisanna pick up Natsu from the floor, slightly amazed at her ability.

"I warned him, but he didn't listen to me." Yuki puffed, crossing her arms completely annoyed with the dragon slayer.

"Nevertheless, I'm impressed at your ability to knock down Natsu." Erza said as she could see the beginning of a bump forming on the pink haired mage's head.

"It helps to be trained by the best ice wizard around." Yuki replied as she still wore a look of annoyance, but Natsu immediately rebounded onto his feet at the sound of someone being the best.

"The best ice wizard? Is this guy strong? Do you think I could fight him?" Natsu was getting excited at the thought of fighting a powerful mage, he hasn't been able to fight anyone strong in a while.

"Of course he's strong, but I doubt he would want to fight you. He's got better things to do, even if you're the mage who defeated Zeref." She was still refusing to look at the pink haired mage and preferred to look past him towards Lisanna and Lucy.

"For someone who's that busy, I don't seem to recall anyone in Fiore to be like that." Erza mused as she looked questioningly at the small ice mage.

"That's because he works mostly in the North obviously, it's in need of assistance more often than not and it's an ideal place for training." Yuki replied to the older woman, who thought that was an interesting form of attitude for someone that young. "And if you think I'll tell you where exactly he is, you've got another thing coming.

Interestingly enough, Yuki had manged to say that right before Natsu was about to ask where he could find him to challenge her master himself. He deflated in his seat knowing that he wasn't going to get any info from the girl, somehow getting the feeling that the brunette was as stubborn as a person could be. As for said girl she was satisfied that she managed to get the dragon slayer off her master's case, but she could feel another ice mage's presence approaching and saw a silver haired man coming her way.

"I've come to welcome the latest addition to my Juvia-chan's guild, my name is Lyon Vastia and feel free to come to me if you want a little more training with your ice make." Lyon watched as the girl seemed to be measuring him up for something, exactly what that was escaped him.

"I've learned all that I need to know, but I will appreciate any help given to me if it will help my technique." After hearing how Yuki speaks, Lyon was fairly surprised that she showed manners to him. He half expected for her to give him sass like she did to Natsu.

"Very well but if I may ask, what is your master's name?" Lyon wanted to know who this other ice maker mage was, since this form of magic must be taught by someone who is fluent in it.

"He's mostly known as the powerful mage called "Absolute Zero" in the North," Yuki replied as they all looked at her questioningly, "it wouldn't matter if I told you his real name. No one would really know who'd you be talking about."

It struck the entire group as odd that no one knew Yuki's master by his real name, even if he's not well known in other regions of Fiore it doesn't mean the people in the North shouldn't know it. It rose the question that if this was a powerful mage like Yuki said, then why hasn't he joined a guild to showcase his abilities or to help others with his magic? Lucy was about to ask her if this "Absolute Zero" was a part of some guild in the northern regions, but was drowned out by Natsu's follow up comment.

"If he's so powerful, then why haven't I heard of him?" Natsu has met and at times fought a mage that was strong from both continents, yet he had never come across a powerful ice wizard that could withstand his flames.

"If you haven't heard of him then it goes to show how little you know about great wizards from the North, like Ur." After Yuki's claim Lyon's eyes widen when he heard the young wizard say his master's name.

"How do you know my master's name?" Lyon wanted to know, but remembered that he was dealing with a child so he couldn't out right be demanding to her, even more so since she wasn't his guild mate and Erza stood nearby.

"What do you mean? Everyone knows the great ice creation wizard Ur, she was the hero who had finally defeated Deliora in Brago in the year x774. You are her disciple aren't you?" Yuki had actually given them a history lesson about the northern regions and it left Lyon speechless that he didn't know his master's final act of courage was marked down in history.

The name "Deliora" sounded very familiar to the group's ears, until they it clicked in their minds that Lyon was the one who unfroze the monster from its icy prison. Erza remembered going after Happy, Lucy and Natsu back then for going against guild rules and taking an S-class mission without the proper clearance. Although, the red head felt like she knew more about the story Yuki had told them, as if there was another reason as to why the ice wizard stopped the monster.

"It's been twenty-two years since I've set foot anywhere near Brago, the local history must have had changes to it that I wasn't aware of." Lyon replied to her question, although he was slightly irked that he did not know about his master's placement in history.

"Well I'm sure Yuki could answer some of your questions at another time Lyon, but we still need to introduce her to the rest of the guild. If you could excuse us." Erza placed her hand the girl's shoulder as she guided her away to meet the other members of Fairy Tail.

Lyon watched as the two left, contemplating on who the brunette's master was if he could wield Ur's magic. The rest of the team watched them go from their table towards the counter; however, Natsu was still trying to call out to her to find out where her master was, much to Lucy's dismay that he hadn't grown out of his old ways. Lisanna on the other hand didn't mind, after all who he is was the person she married.

* * *

Erza showed Yuki around, letting her meet everyone that she'd be working with from now on and the brunette complied in the same way she did when the red head first met her. Many people had taken a quick liking towards the ice mage and were more than happy to have on of their own since it completes a form of spectrum that the guild has. Spanning from requip to nature and elemental to take over magic, Fairy Tail had its fair share of different mages, but what they didn't have was an ice elemental mage given that these types of mages have been very hard to come across.

Nevertheless, the red head requip mage could see that Yuki will easily be a part of this family without question, but something had caught her eye when Mira handed her a drink after meeting her. Running up her arm, hidden by her jacket's sleeves, Erza could see bandages the were freshly placed and she concerned about Yuki's well being if her injuries were serious. She was about to question her about it, until she caught Makarov and Mest going up the staircase at the corner of her eye. She quickly decided that she'd get to question Yuki at a later time, but she needed to see the master now in since this problem was starting to build more questions than she or anyone else had answers for.

"Master if it's alright with you, I require some of your time. I have an important matter to discuss with you." Erza waited for the master's response and the elderly mage nodded in approval, while Mest was about to bid his leave to them until Erza outstretched her hand to stop him. "You could also provide help as well Mest, so please stay with the master until I return."

The former council guard nodded his head and Erza made her way downstairs to retrieve the portrait as they were the last two people she could ask left, aside from Gildarts though he wasn't in the guild at the time. The red head made it back to her table and retrieved the portrait now seeing the latest member sitting alongside Lucy while Lisanna tried to calm Natsu down. She could count on her team mates to look after the young ice mage, but for now she needed to return to the master's office. No sooner had she grabbed the canvas, was she already standing in front of his door and composed herself before stepping in.

"Master I ask that you look at this portrait and the same goes for you as well Mest." Erza then showed both men the portrait and waited for their reactions. She was internally surprised to see that the Master had no reaction to it whatsoever, but she had noticed the slightest flinch from Mest as soon as he made eye contact with it.

"It's a well done portrait by Reedus I'm sure, but is there something else that I am not seeing Erza? Makarov question bringing Erza attention back on him, all the while she was trying to think of why he wasn't affected at all like they were.

"T-This is actually Lucy's next main character in her upcoming book, but there is another thing I wish to discuss with you..." Makarov could already tell that this was a serious matter based on how stern Erza's voice had become and waited for her to continue.

Erza went into detail about what had been happening recently and what her experiences have been thus far. Mentioning the others reactions to the painting and how this was drawing various questions that she couldn't explain herself, expressing that they might have something that could give her some sort of piece of mind. The requip mage waited as she watched the master go in deep thought, in what she believed was him searching through his memories of something like this occurring in the past. She felt a twinge of disappointment when he sighed in defeat, Erza now knowing that even he didn't have the answer.

"I'm sorry Erza, but I'm afraid I have no experience concerning this problem. What about you Mest? Has something like this occurred during your years of service in the Magic Council?" Makarov turned to look at him, but he shook his head in response.

"No this hasn't happened before to my knowledge, but don't worry Erza I'll look into this and find some sort of lead. Hopefully were aren't dealing with a third party out to attack us after what we've been through." Mest replied and Erza thanked them both for their help, excusing herself as she left his office with the portrait in hand.

Makarov waited as her footsteps slowly disappeared before outwardly sighing, exhausted from the conversation with Erza besides the trip back to the guild. Of everything that has happened in the last years of staying the guild's master, he hadn't expected this to happen. Not in a long shot, believing that it was a situation dealt with all those years ago.

"I had not expected for this to happen to Erza, let alone her urge to search for more clues." Mest spoke up as the master turned to look at him with tired eyes.

"My boy, I feel that this is just the beginning of it, what we believed to be the end is now fading away. The seal is breaking or was weak to begin with, but from what Erza has said, **his** memory is breaking free." Makarov could sense that his children will become stubborn to discover the truth in time, but he hopes that all this will blow over before then.

"You may be right master, do you need me to restrengthen it before it's too late?" Mest was in no way eager to do the deed he had done for a second time, but this was a decision he couldn't argue against since the start.

"That might be the better course of action Mest, I worry for my children and the lives they have now." He leaned back into his seat as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "First Yuki and now this? Is this a sign that the _fallen fairy_ of the past is coming back?" It had been years since they had contact with each other, which is why it came as a surprise when they received a call from **him**.

"Do not worry yourselves just yet, we must see how this will play out." Came the sweet voice from the spirit of Fairy Tail's first master, Mavis Vermillion.

"First, do you really think it wise that we shouldn't take action now that we know what is happening?" Makarov knew the first master is a wise woman (even though she had the body resembling that of a child's), but he still had slight doubts on not doing anything.

"Trust me six...er eighth, all things happen for a reason. This could quite possibly mean that Fairy Tail may expect the return of its true first ice mage...Gray Fullbuster."


	4. A Fallen Hero

A Fallen Hero

It had been weeks since Erza's frightening display in the guild hall and many more nights filled with the same figure in her dreams. She has taken it upon herself that the search for his identity were to become her own little side project, leaving her open to her regular duties as an S-class mage and the next guild master in training. So far, her own leads haven't proven fruitful and at the moment she's waiting in the forested area on the outskirts of Magnolia to see what her contact can tell her. She didn't wish to bother him or his independent guild with this personal matter, but they were a very reliable source of information when it came down to the harder parts of the continent.

A short breeze swept past her and as if on cue, multiple hooded figures had emerged from what would seem like thin air. She looked on as Crime Sorciere stood before her, their blue haired leader at the forefront of the group with a kind smile adorning his face. Erza had kept in contact with them for years; however, this was actually the first time she has seen any of them in person again after the war with Alvarez.

"Hello Erza, it's nice to see you again." Jellal spoke up as the rest of his guild pulled down their hoods revealing their faces to Fairy Tail's future guild master.

"Likewise Jellal, although I would have rather wished it to be on less business related conditions." She replied as he gave a short chuckle, "Did you find out anything on this Absolute Zero?"

"Sorry there Red, nothing personal about him aside from stories we've gathered." Racer replied as he sat on a nearby rock alongside Cobra.

"Even I couldn't hear a specific thing about him besides the howling of icy winds that seemed very different from the ones of the North." Cobra spoke up as he crossed his arms, baffled that even with his incredible hearing there wasn't much difference in the North that he could hear like he could in Fiore.

"The stories about him are interesting though; depicting a man of great power in all the North, defending the innocent and taking almost any job he could get his hands on, but refrains from becoming a private mercenary. A very curious person if you ask me, all that power and yet he doesn't seek to control anything or anyone." Midnight added as Erza pondered over this information, comparing them to the ones Yuki had been willing to tell.

"What else could you tell me?" Erza wanted more information, anything was useful in her eyes and Crime Sorciere was her best bet to get it.

"My, my Erza you sound very interested in this Absolute Zero..." A sultry voice said, one from a woman Erza would've never imagined seeing again after all these years.

Hoteye stepped to one side allowing one of the most sought after mages from the Old Magic Council to walk into Erza's view with her pseudo-daughter at her side. Her long raven hair swayed with her step, a familiar skimpy outfit showing under the uniform cloak and completed with a silky white bow in her hair. Ultear stood facing the armored clad woman with a calm expression as the latter was shocked to see her again, due to the news she heard from Jellal sometime after the x792 Grand Magic Games. From the way he had explained it, the blue haired man made it sound as if she disappeared for good and would never be seen again.

"Ultear!?"

"Surprised to see me, well you wouldn't be the first and to answer the unspoken question you have, I'm afraid that not even I could really explain how I'm standing in front of you." Erza watched as the woman she still felt somewhat unaccustomed to walk her way over to her with the same prideful steps she had five years ago.

"Like she said, it was a shocking when she intercepted us after we dealt with an up and coming dark guild on the eastern part of Fiore. The one to break down the most was Meredy, all because of the love she had for her mother." Hoteye spoke up as a tinge of pink dusted the young woman's face as she walked alongside her pseudo-mother.

"It happened two years ago okay, could we leave it in the past before Sorano teases me about again!?" If there was a member of their guild that Meredy had gotten close to besides Jellal, it would be Sorano as the two were practically like sisters now. Even if the white haired woman does know how to get on the pink haired girl's nerves.

"She's very outspoken compared to the last time I saw her, but for now we're here to help you find this Absolute Zero character." Ultear brought the attention back to the topic at hand, which surprised Erza to see the former Oracion Seis show the same respect to her as they do to Jellal. "Is there any other info aside from what you've already told us that could be helpful in our search?"

"I'm afraid that what I've already told you is all I have on him." Erza had only bits and pieces of information concerning Yuki's master aside from his strength as a mage being equivalent to possibly stronger than Natsu's; however, she did have another thing she wanted to show them. "Although there is something I like to show you, it's somewhat personal, but I rather you all take it as a tracking mission."

"How unlike you to give a tracking mission that doesn't involve a dark guild, Erza." Jellal commented as he grabbed the paper the redhead was handing over to him.

"That is still up for debate whether or not this person is a part of a dark guild, for now I just need to know what to prepare for." She replied as Jellal gave it a look over, taking in the man's features and passing it along to the other members of Crime Sorciere. "It's been bothering me for some time now and it's only gotten me even more interested in finding out who this person is..."

"What do you mean "who this person is" if I know him." Ultear spoke up as she had the paper in her hand, having a questioning face towards the armored clad woman. "Even you should be aware of who he is."

"You know who this man is!? Could you please give me a name, that would beneficial to us in a number of ways." It was the first time that the mysterious man was actually recognized by someone and for it to be from Ultear came as a bigger surprise to Erza.

"Okay...His name's Gray, Gray Fullbuster. How can you of all people not know it?" Ultear was unsure how anyone from his guild would not know him, especially for his habit of stripping and someone who's a member of his team. "Here Meredy look for yourself, I'm sure you can also agree with me."

"I've never really met this person before in my life, but some thing's have recently come up that involve this Gray person you said." Erza was glad that she got a name and now she understood why when Natsu called him gray it seemed to fit. "Meredy if you have anyth- Hey are you alright?"

Erza hadn't expected to see the pink haired girl to shed tears and that included the raven haired woman next to her, who hadn't seen her cry ever since she gave her and Jellal her farewell letter and her return. The young woman quickly wiped away her tears and gave the paper back to Erza, yet she was still getting a few more quizzical stares from her guild and the red haired woman.

"I'll be alright in a moment, please continue for me Ur." Meredy stepped away to calm herself and allowed Ultear to continue; however, the raven haired woman gave a worried glance over to her before she spoke again.

"Gray is a good man even though he lost his whole family at a young age; however, he is one that I owe my life to so it's a surprise that you don't know much about him, given that you've known him for a pretty long time yourself." The confused expression that Erza gave was enough for Ultear to know something was not right here.

"You make it sound like I would know this person very well, but I've never met someone named Gray Fullbuster in my life." To her, this person was a complete stranger and yet something about how Ultear talks about him makes it sound like she were friends with him; possibly really good friends.

"You're not serious are you? Come on Jellal, tell her who Gray is since I've said plenty about him to you in the past." The ravenette turned to their guild leader for support, but she was met with another confused expression from the blue haired man.

"I'm sorry Ultear, but you've never told me anything about a Gray Fullbuster before. You've only told me about a Lyon Vastia and I can't recall another person you have mentioned to me that wasn't a leader to a dark guild." The busty woman felt troubled when Jellal hadn't recognized who Gray was, added to the fact that the red head genuinely had no idea who he was began setting up red flags in her head.

"I'm sorry for taking off so suddenly, but it's alright now that I've calmed down a bit." Meredy said as her little outburst had passed which drew back Ultear's curiosity of why the young pink haired woman reacted in such a way. "But I do have information about Gray for you Erza, although I don't think it would do much in advancing your search."

"It really doesn't matter, so long as it can be of some use then I'm fine with it." Erza replied, yet she watched on with curious eyes as Meredy downcasted her gaze away from her.

"I'm afraid your search is fruitless Erza, since this Gray Fullbuster is dead." All the readiness in Erza slowly dissipated as the man she was searching for was deceased, but the case wasn't the same for Ultear.

The raven haired woman felt her heart sink down her chest as the news hit her like a boulder, her emotions gone from her being leaving nothing but an icy poker face in their stead. She couldn't believe that he was dead, she's heard of the things he's been through in his life and knew that he was as stubborn as a person could be that couldn't have died so easily.

Ultear wanted to thank him for steering her on the path of the light again after their fight on Tenrou Island, but they disappeared for seven years leaving her to wait for the day they would return. Even still did she not thank him when she saw him again when he returned or after the games had ended, hell she made it clear to him not to get off the carriage on his way back to Magnolia all those years ago being her last chance to say anything.

"Are you certain that Gray's actually dead, Meredy?" Ultear never doubted her word, but this time some where deep down inside her hoped that she was mistaken.

"It's true Ur, I realized it the moment I saw the paper. He was at the battle against the dragons; fighting alongside myself, Lyon and Juvia although I can't recall what guild he was a part of." Meredy had gone on to tell them of how he pushed herself and Juvia out of harm's way from a surprise attack, but he took multiple hits from the smaller dragons in the process many of which pierced through his body.

Ultear listened on with an attentive ear, yet she felt a piece of her break knowing that she'd never will get the chance to thank him properly now that he was gone. Even still, she has that memory of Gray shedding tears as he rode away in that carriage playing in her mind, wondering if it was simply a side effect that her mind was playing tricks on her after casting Last Aegis. She didn't want to believe it, but for Meredy to react that way had made her question if it was actually her who imagined Gray in that carriage due to personal guilt that weighed on her entire being.

 **"I'm too late...Hopefully you're somewhere watching over me alongside my mother Gray..."** Ultear thought to herself as Erza cleared her throat.

"Well I guess that solves one mystery on my behalf." Erza said after Meredy had finished recounting the events of that night. "Thank you all for meeting me here and I await for anymore leads you may have." With that Erza bid farewell to Crime Sorciere and they in turn took their leave and moved on as swiftly as a summer breeze.

* * *

Nearly half an hour later, Erza returned to the guild finding it admits one of the ever classic brawls with Natsu obviously at the center of it. Interestingly enough he was actually the center of it since his feet had been frozen to the ground all the while he was fighting off his guild mates left and right; of course the redhead could guess who had done that to him although said person was busy within her own igloo.

Yuki was busy eating away at her favorite sundae that she, more often than not, would be seen eating at the guild even under the situations that happen at the guild. As for the igloo, Erza could tell it was her personal idea to create her own little abode to protect herself, and her ice cream, from harm against flying debris or even guild mates. Needless to say it was very effective since she didn't seem bothered in the slightest and with a closer look, Erza could make out the figures of Juvia, Lisanna and Lucy inside with her. The requip mage would gladly join them; however, she needed to put a stop to the fighting and she did with a commanding voice no one dares to disrespect.

With everyone calmed down, she immediately tasked them with clean up duty and at the corner of her eye she could see the igloo vanish into thin air. With a surveying eye, Erza watched as things were placed back into place and thanked Laki for repairing the more wood made furniture while the other broken items were being replaced with spares from the back rooms. Now with that settled she quickly began to drag Natsu by the ear back to their table to avoid him starting anymore fights for today, yet she hadn't noticed the curious look Natsu was giving her as she kept pulling him.

"Care to tell me why your feet were iced to the floor Natsu?" Erza questioned as they sat down at their table while Yuki slightly stiffened.

"Well the thing is Erza I wanted to see who was strong enough to knock me out of it, so I was like a stationary target for anyone but no one could do it." He replied as Erza gave him one more look before accepting it, but of course she knew who exactly did it for him.

"Care to add anything Yuki?" Erza quipped as the young ice wizard casually played with her fingers before she replied to the next guild master.

"He wanted to test his mettle and I wanted him to stay in one spot for just a few minutes, so it was a win-win." Yuki by far was a girl very ahead of her years, that much was certain after the first two weeks since she's been a member. "If you don't mind I'm going off to talk with Asuka now, so I'll see you around."

She casually grabbed her now empty bowl and went off to the counter to give it back to Mira, followed by the eyes of her seniors and the next guild master. It was still surprising to them that she had a knack of casually talking to them as if she were their own age, but in the form of a very young girl. It was this same attitude that gave Erza the impression that she'd fit well within the guild and it doesn't seem that she was mistaken, although it did feel as if she was trying to avoid her in a way. Then again it could've been just her imagination especially now that she wasn't that well attuned to her sense of self since she had to realize that her time was spent on a wild goose chase.

"Hey Erza you alright?" Natsu asked as he had noticed how spaced out she has been lately ever since she came back.

"Hmmm? Oh, I'm fine Natsu it's just that I got news about Lucy's character." Erza replied still feeling as if this wasn't truly the answer, but the way Meredy reacted like that made her think otherwise. "He's an actual person, so that means you received inspiration from a real person."

"So you've got a lead on him then? I really want to meet him since I need to ask if I could use his face for my character after all." Lucy spoke up as she could get into some awkward predicament if she used someone's face without their permission.

"His name is...was Gray Fullbuster, but I'm afraid that task would be rather impossible." She replied feeling oddly strange about telling her the bad news about a person she doesn't even know. Unknown to her, a certain aging guild master's ears perked at the mention of **_that_** person's name and kept his attention over at Erza's table in secret.

"Oh why's that Erza, is he out of the country or something?" Juvia asked as Lisanna had a similar thought like the water mage.

"No it's not that, I'm afraid Mr. Fullbuster has been deceased for some time now." It felt odd for Erza to refer to him so formal, but it was nothing in comparison to the weird clenching feeling in her heart to say the news of his passing out loud.

"I'm sorry to hear that and for you too Erza, we all know how much you wanted to know about him ever since that incident. I guess I should get in contact with his relatives then for their permission." Lucy and the others knew that Erza was looking into this Gray person on the side, but they truly did feel sorry for her as her search lead to her finding out that he had died sometime ago.

"It's alright Lucy, but he didn't have any next of kin. Like your story's character, he lost all of his family leaving him to be the last of his bloodline." The air grew thick with silence as no one wished to say another word after Erza's last words, until Lisanna decided to ask the question she had in mind.

"If it's not too much to ask Erza, but do you know anything about his death?" She knew it wasn't very kind to ask about another person's death like that, but for some reason she wished to pay her respects to him.

"Well...He died like an honorable hero for his actions during the battle of the dragons." Everyone grew quiet as she spoke, knowing about the lives that had been lost during the attack; even if many were saved there were those few that were lost. "He died protecting you Juvia."

"H-He did?" She tried to look back at the events and it hit her instantly, tears began to form in the corner of her eyes as she could nearly see the sight happening before her eyes all over again. Lisanna quickly gave her a napkin to dry her tears and tried to calm her down before she flooded the guild.

"Woah he did that, but did he even know her?" Natsu now felt like a jerk for calling him an ice prick if he sacrificed himself to save Juvia.

"From what I know, he stood alongside Lyon, Juvia and Meredy to fight off the smaller dragons, but pushed Juvia and Meredy out of the way from an unexpected attack taking on the fatal beams himself." Erza had a newfound respect for this man as he willingly gave his life to protect total strangers, but he must be of good will if he helped change Ultear's life as well. "He was a mage around our age back then, but he must've been an independent since it didn't seem he was apart of any guild."

"Cut down at such a young age, but I'm sure he was a good soul." Lisanna said as Natsu agreed to her statement, as someone like that was alright in his book.

"There are nameless heroes in Earth Land and Gray Fullbuster was one of them. I'll make sure he is commended in my story no matter what, but I feel bad knowing my version has someone looking like him living on with his new family..." Lucy knew that at times life is unfair and Gray's was probably like that if he had no one else but himself.

"Well said Lucy, I just hope he's found peace and is with his family again." Juvia said as the entire table agreed with her.

They all knew life was precious no matter what the case and they each had a form of respect for Gray's heroism. They each wondered what kind of life he led to where he rather give his own life to save someone else's. As they were left to their own thoughts and talks, Makarov heaved a small sigh as the matter was settled before they delved too deep into Gray Fullbuster and his past.

 **"So it seems that you are but a fallen hero Gray, a better memory to go by instead of the one you made sure to seal away..."** The old master thought to himself as he took a solemn sip of his beer.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _Thanks for reading everyone, hope you liked and have a nice day. Don't forget to favorite, follow or even leave a review on the chapter if you liked it, disliked it or there's a mistake somewhere._

 _(P.S. I am so hyped for the next manga chapter; not going to spoil the recent one if you haven't read it, but I will say that it left me a bit misty eyed in the end in pure joy.)_


	5. A Truth Found and a Journey Started

A Truth Found and a Journey Started

The day had continued like any other with the guild's usual bouts of brawls and clean ups throughout the afternoon. Cana had arrived from one of her mission sometime ago and everyone recognized the look of an alcohol deprived brunette, although she has held back on it quite a bit over the years. Nobody would blame her for wanting to have a few mugs since they praised her for drinking less amounts of booze that there was still a good amount left in the bar taps each day. Erza was one of the few that outwardly expressed her feelings about the brunette cutting back on the drinking and allowed her, on special occasions, to binge to her heart's content. To someone unfamiliar with the situation, they would think that Erza was enabling a bad addiction however, they would be wrong as Cana only loved booze and she never depended on it to keep her life in check. So she weakly waved her hello to everyone and towards the future guild master before slamming her head on the bar counter and ordering at least four mugs to start herself off with.

Speaking of the requip mage, Erza sat at her table with her team talking about the various things that had happened in recent days and their own interactions with their new ice mage. It was until Lucy had agreed to tag along with Natsu and Lisanna on a quick mission a few towns away that the conversations came to an end once the dragon slayer had brought it up, but Erza had declined her invitation as she had her own business to attend to while they were away. The requip mage saw them off at the station and made her way back to the guild, but that odd feeling of hearing about Mr. Fullbuster's passing left a bitter sensation in her. It just didn't feel right and it only bothered her further the more she thought of it, but there wasn't anything she could do about it and so she spent her time over seeing the actions of her guild mates so no expensive damage was done to the guild.

"Would you let me go already!?" Erza heard Yuki's cry and followed it towards the bar counter where the little brunette was trying her best to escape from being suffocated by Cana's ample bust as she hugged the little ice mage close to her body.

"Awe come on, don't be like that." Cana drunkenly said as she continued to ignore the ice mage's pleas and the requip mage had decided to step in.

"Cana let Yuki go and properly introduce yourself. Ever since you've been promoted to S-Class, you've been away from the guild for months on end and this time you missed Yuki's introduction to Fairy Tail." Erza crossed her arms in wait, but she was simply stared at in a confused manner by the drunk woman in front of her.

"What do you mean? I already know Yuki." The older brunette replied as Erza was completely confused to her statement and looked towards the younger one for details.

"She got into a pretty nasty situation with a monster on one of her missions and my master and I were close by, so he decided to help her out." Yuki began as she quickly took the opportunity to escape Cana's grasp as the card mage went to reach for her next mug. "We helped her get to town right after and she got drunk, which became my master's responsibility since he was seen walking into town with her."

"I apologized for being a bit of a burden, but give a girl a little slack. How was I supposed to know that bar's booze was too weak for me. Besides, I got a free ride from him and that's a bonus for me." Cana said as Erza's cheeks slightly flushed at the card mage's claim.

"Cana, language!"

"What? He carried me on his back all the way towards my room in the hotel I was staying in. Don't know why he did it, but I wasn't going to complain and he had the deepest and smoothest voice that I thought I'd melt before I'd even make it in my bed." Cana said with a drunken smile on her face as Erza sighed to herself when she remembered the card mage's habits. "I don't know why, but it felt nostalgic piggy-backing on Yuki's master."

"In what way? I doubt you've ever met him before." Yuki said as she stood next to Erza, making sure to be out of arms reach from Cana as the card mage was still trying to reach out for her.

"I don't really know, it just felt so familiar to me like I've done so many times before." The busty woman replied as she gave up on her tries to hug the little girl, although Erza was slightly curious of Cana's nostalgic feeling.

"In any case, I was wondering why you held onto Yuki so tightly. I don't quite remember you doing something like that with anyone else, aside from Lucy when you were teasing her." Erza said as another smile spread across Cana's face as she lunged forward entrapping the unsuspecting ice mage in another tight hug, rubbing her cheek against hers.

"That's simple, it's because this little cutie called me her mommy!" Erza's eyes widened to her claim and couldn't really believe that the card mage was actually happy to be called a mother. "It really made me happy to hear that!"

"Don't pay any attention to what this woman says!" It was an amusing sight as Yuki tried to push away the older woman as hard as she could while the drunk was simply giggling away. "I only said that so those guys would leave you alone and my master helped out too!"

"Care to tell me what trouble you got yourself into Cana." Erza crossed her arms in her no nonsense stance and the older brunette began to twiddle her fingers against one another.

"Well, I may have gotten a bit drunk, got hit own by some ugly looking dudes and may or may not have insulted them." She replied and turned to look at Yuki for anymore information of what happened.

"It happened the same day we helped her out and it was the first thing I came up with on the spot, of course they weren't going to take an eleven year old seriously, so my master stepped in too." Yuki informed as she once again made her way over to Erza, this time choosing to stand a little behind her just in case. "So when a big man like him came to my side and asked what's wrong, they immediately backed off and left Cana alone."

"At least you two were there, you have my thanks. As for you Cana, be more careful when out on a job and don't drink so much when away from the guild unless you have someone with you." The scarlet haired mage reprimanded as the card mage bowed her head in understanding, sometimes trouble seems to really find itself with everyone but that's how it is and Erza wasn't about to complain now. With that over with, everyone went about their usual business with Yuki going off to do her own thing, Cana back to drinking and Erza back on watch.

Nothing eventful happened after that and soon enough day turned to night and Erza was on her way to retire in her room at Fairy Hills, but halted in her step as she heard the sounds of struggling coming down the hall. The scarlet haired mage quickly made her way down and opened the door in an unceremonious matter to come face to face with Yuki struggling with gauze wrappings that had managed to wrap her up in a mummy fashion. Needless to say that the little ice mage became flustered as the older woman barged into her room and caught in a less than acceptable manner, a blush forming across her cheeks as Erza internally swooned at how adorable the girl was being. The future guild master quickly helped Yuki get untangled from her gauze entrapment, the little ice mage sighing to herself as she resigned to her fate of embarrassment and allowed the older woman to help.

Erza was simply enjoying herself as she unwrapped Yuki like a Christmas present, an adorable one she so wanted to hug once she was done, but the mood faded away when she caught sight of the girl's arms. She looked on with a growing anger inside of her as she took in the sight of bruised skin, minor places where burns were healing and disappearing and minor scars that littered her arms with the biggest one nearly two and half inches long on her right one. Erza had noticed the girl wearing them back at the guild and was curious to know what was underneath, but never got around to ask her although that didn't matter now as she stared down at her findings. These were cruel markings on such a sweet girl and Erza was ready to bring hell upon the perpetrators that had done this to her, but Yuki didn't seemed fazed in the slightest once Erza had noticed her injured arms.

"Yuki who did this to you? Tell me and I'll make sure they receive a fitting punishment for such a diabolic act." Erza held onto the girl's shoulders in a slight grip in order to not hurt her, but on closer inspection she had now noticed even more bruising across her body. The scarlet haired woman had realized that the gauze didn't only wrap her arms, but also across her stomach as well.

"It doesn't matter now, that's all in the past now." Yuki replied in an emotionless fashion, but Erza was having none of that, remembering the days she spent tortured in the Tower of Heaven.

"Whether it happened a year ago or just yesterday, it matters to me. It's my job to make sure that everyone within Fairy Tail is safe from outside forces even those that plagued them from their past." The requip mage was always willing to protect her family at all costs, no matter who hurt them, she'd find a way to make them pay.

"You don't need to get involved Ms. Scarlet, there's nothing you could do so if you can kindly drop this subject it will be very appreciated." Yuki replied in the same manner and Erza grew worried that she seemed so desensitized from the wounds she bears, but a dreaded thought passed her mind and she needed to know the answer to it even if would upset Yuki.

"Yuki, did your master do this?" Erza asked slowly and in an instant, the requip mage saw the little girl's face contort from expressionless to one of anger. An emotion Erza has never seen Yuki pull off ever since she joined Fairy Tail.

"How dare you accuse my master of this!? He's a good and honest man, who'd never lay a hand on anyone if they didn't so rightly deserve it!" She exclaimed in anger and that alone told Erza how attached the girl was to her old master. "If you truly want to know so bad then fine; I got these wounds because I was in a severe incident with my master and he did everything he could to save me."

The scarlet haired woman was at a loss for words as Yuki still remained in an angered state and the room began to grow even colder as time went on. Erza could tell that the little brunette meant every word she was saying and felt a pang of guilt for even suggesting that her master might have abused her in the past in such a disgusting manner. Bowing her head slightly to the little girl, Erza was about to apologize until she heard a small scoff resonate from her mouth.

"Don't bother apologizing, it won't change what's already happen to me. Besides, my master's already given me some words of insight about this so it truly doesn't faze me anymore." Yuki spoke in a voice that sounded calmer now, compared to her angered one and Erza was glad for that fact.

"But I truly am sorry for thinking that way about your master, Yuki." Erza lowered herself to be eye level with the girl and gave her a kind smile. "I was simply worried about your well being and soon enough you'll come to realize that everyone here at Fairy Tail would've reacted the same way."

"I understand, I don't usually lose my cool like that on anyone and I like to say that I'm sorry for raising my voice against you." Yuki replied as she gave the future master a respectful bow and Erza was impressed by the girl's humility.

"That's alright, but if I may be so bold to ask, what was the situation that you were both placed in?" Erza wished to know in case she would ever tell the others someday and continue for her in case it became to much for her to relive.

"I'm afraid I'm not ready to tell you the exact details, but I'll give a quick summary for the time being." Yuki replied as Erza nodded her head in understanding. "My master and I were on a job that turned sour fast, I was captured and beaten, but I wasn't going to give up and neither was he. They used me as a way to eliminate my master by setting a trap for him and in the end he managed to save me, but we were caught in the trap's explosion."

"Oh I see, well I'm glad that you both made it with your lives, but what about the people who captured you?" Erza watched as the little girl shifted where she stood before she replied to the requip mage.

"That's the reason I said that there was nothing you can do is because of what happened to them." The brunette seemed troubled to continue with her words and Erza had a feeling as to what she was hinting at. "To be blunt, my master had taken care of them in a severe fashion as those who weren't in comas are now in one of Isvan's toughest prisons."

"He handled the situation his way and there's nothing I can do about it, so I'll leave it at that. For now I'm grateful that you were willing to tell me a snippet of your past and if you'd allow me, I'll help put fresh new bandages on you." Erza said kindly as the ice mage gave a small smile in return and handed her the roll of gauze for her to begin with.

"Thank you Ms. Scarlet." Yuki said as Erza began to unwrap the rest of what was left of her old bandages from her body, but she couldn't help but feel a little sad that some of these scars aren't very likely to disappear.

"No problem, but call me Erza since everyone else does, besides there's no need for formalities when you're apart of Fairy Tail." Erza said once again, feeling very attached to the indifferent girl who hardly showed many emotions in the guild, but her rare smiles were like breaths of fresh air. "And if you like we could speak with Porlyusica, our other healer aside from Wendy, to find a way to get rid of some of these scars."

"That's alright E-Erza, there's no need to go through all the trouble." Erza did not know it, but to Yuki these scars scars meant more than just a disfigurement of her skin and saw them in a way like marks of honor and achievement. "Besides it's like how my master would say; "I don't mind having scars, it's the ones you can't see that sting" which are words I wish to live by."

"Well they do sound like wise words, but keep in mind that you must also look after your own body. Like any good teacher, I'm sure he's expecting you to surpass even him one day." Erza never really had a very strong connection to her mentors when she was learning to improve her magic, aside from Master Makarov of course, but Yuki seemed to be fond of her own.

"Yes I understand what you mean, but to surpass him is something I don't think I'll achieve although I do hope to be as skilled as he is with my magic." Yuki replied lifting her left arm so Erza could put on the new wrappings on them.

"In due time you will be, plus being a part of Fairy Tail will help expand your abilities. Trust me when I say that you'll achieve great things Yuki." Erza said as the two continued make idle chatter to one another in the brunette's room well after the requip mage had finished placing the new bandages on, but Yuki didn't seem to be complaining with her company.

* * *

In the forests of northern Fiore, Crime Sorciere was trudging along a worn dirt pathway towards the neighboring country of Isvan. Although they had spoken to the next head of Fairy Tail merely hours ago, they had made large headway in returning to the ever cold region that held their main objective in the search of the mysterious Absolute Zero; the man himself. The fact remained that the only activity in that region was mainly beasts and demons, the independent guild had done a few jobs that had a human element in them which included the majority being dark guild cults in search of summoning aforementioned demons to do their bidding. Most of the members spoke amongst one another as they walked through the forest, but one person lagged slightly behind the group as she was lost in her own thoughts.

Ultear was still trying to process the fact that Gray had been dead for five years already, thinking that one of her mother's students was doing well in his life given the circumstances he was placed into. She couldn't deny that a part of her wished to speak with him again, listen to what he would say about his own past experiences that she wasn't aware of through being a part of the Old Magic Council and what kind of person her mother was like. In truth the ice mage was her hero; a savior from the dark pit she called a life in Grimoire Heart, but she knew that the ravenette would never let himself be called a hero. Though their meetings were brief, just like their conversations, she could easily tell that the former ice mage couldn't regard himself so highly and thought his actions were nothing more than him doing the right thing.

Sure there was still Lyon she could speak with about both Gray and her mother's past, but they were complete strangers to one another and as far as Ultear knew the white haired mage still believed that she was raven haired woman was still too caught up in her thoughts that she failed to realize Meredy tugging at her cloak to gain her attention as her previous verbal attempts had gone unnoticed. At the pink haired girl's strongest pull, Ultear had taken noticed of Meredy and saw her worried face as she looked at her questioningly before the sensory mage sighed aloud.

"Are you alright Ur? You've been spacing out and have been pretty quiet since we left from Magnolia." Meredy had noticed at first when they were leaving, she seemed distant when she heard of Gray Fullbuster's passing although she never really knew the man on a personal level and she highly doubted Ultear did as well.

"I'm fine Meredy, nothing for you to worry about. I was merely wondering what exactly are we going to do once we make it to Isvan and possibly beyond to even Iceberg if need be." Ultear replied as she raised her voice to garner the rest of the group's attention so she'd get a least in an answer, preferably from Jellal as he was spearheading this search for his crush. Honestly, she believed that the blue haired man would've grown a pair by now and made the first move.

"Well we'll go in search of some more information on what specific jobs Absolute Zero takes and locate the possible one he'll head to first. In truth, I don not have a clue as to what we do once we confront him." Jellal had heard Ultear loud and clear, replying in his straight to the point fashion although he was unsure of what exactly they're supposed to do once the group makes contact with him.

"Come on big man, we're doing reconnaissance for Red and that's it. No real need to walk up to the guy and talk about the weather, we just see what he does and leave it like that." Racer spoke up this time with his usual grin, but unbeknownst to the rest of his guild, the former dark mage wasn't looking forward to actually facing the guy in person. He was a man that knew his limits and avoided getting cocky, it was his own downfall in the past and the shear memory of him trying to commit suicide because of it was embedded into his brain. So stories like about this guy sure enough put him on another league he wasn't close to achieving, but he felt much more confident having his allies nearby if it came to it.

"Racer does have a point, it is unnecessary for us to make contact unless we are asked to otherwise." Midnight added as he would prefer caution when dealing with such an unknown like Absolute Zero, whose own existence is shrouded in mystery as he barely appeared on Ishgar a few years ago; that's what the information they've gathered says anyways.

"There is truth to what you say Racer and we'll do so with a high degree of awareness as this man amounts to some worry from Erza herself. Keep in mind that Zero's own student claims that his power rival's that of even Natsu, not to mention the demon killing streak he's been on ever since he first appeared to prove that point even further." Jellal wasn't want to waver in his duties and made sure to understand his boundaries which is why he was being careful of what exactly their strategy was going to be.

"Jellal's right since out of all of us here; him and Ultear are the strongest ones and we know that with his power, he could only last for so long fighting someone in a tier like Natsu." Sorano said as the blue haired man knew that the dragon slayer was on a completely different level compared to how he was all those years ago.

"I hate to admit it, but the Salamander's no laughing matter when you fight him and if this guy's just as strong then it's best to avoid confrontation of any sort." Cobra wasn't one to admit that he was of low level in comparison to someone, but with the fire dragon slayer it was a simple truth and wasn't willing to fight a mage capable of holding his own.

"His abilities are no joking manner either. For all the love in the world, I couldn't fathom his fighting potential as he wields his magic in an expertly manner." Hoteye was the one who gathered all the information and rumors of Zero's abilities and couldn't understand how this man isn't considered a Wizard Saint, even if he was an independent.

"An expert in Ice Maker magic, providing the best in versatility, offense and defense without many weaknesses to exploit. Including his special brand of magic we have yet to identify that easily battles demons without much effort and the possible use of Warp magic." Midnight listed off as he remembered what Hoteye had said when his analysis was complete before they reported back to Erza.

Ultear walked silently as the others continued to talk about the ice mage's feats and the other rumored abilities he could possibly possess, for she looked back to the memory of his latest job that puzzled her greatly. They tracked a lead towards a region miles away from Brago that had been the sight of a major clash against Absolute Zero and a thought to be debunked dark guild, which proved the destructive capabilities the ice mage was rumored to possess. Most of the townsfolk could only say that the man simply apologized for the destruction from the outskirts and that was the result of when someone angers him.

The raven haired woman couldn't believe that was simply the mysterious mage's anger flourishing outward in combat, more like a fit of pure rage as the destruction was extensive and the remnants of building was still standing if only due to the ice holding it in place. That ice was the specific thing that puzzled Ultear the most when they went to investigate the sight and they searched for anymore clues around the area. Jellal had called to her when they went to take a closer look at the ice and she could immediately feel the drastic difference between it and regular ice magic. It possessed such different power that her own abilities as an ice mage had little effect in manipulating it and when she tried her time magic she was shocked to discover that it simply wouldn't evaporate immediately nor melt in the slightest.

It took some time and more effort from her to finally see her magic actually doing something, but that process was slow and she was skeptical of how long it would take to even counter one of his attacks. This was a form of ice she was not familiar with and no amount of research that she had done came up with anything close to it. This only placed the others on a much higher alert as Zero's maker magic can withstand even Ultear's time magic and served to further caution his moves when tracking this man.

"For now we must keep caution and be aware of our surroundings, other than that there's nothing else we can do until he have more information on Absolute Zero." Ultear spoke up as she passed the rest of them and taking the lead, Meredy following close behind her.

 **"We have no idea with who we're dealing with, but this just makes it all the more interesting."** The time mage thought to herself, although she kept her personal worries about the mission to herself. Soon enough her mind wondered back onto the topic of Gray and fell silent once more as Crime Sorciere continued on their trek to Isvan.


	6. Absolute Zero

Absolute Zero

The frigid air of Isvan would give any new comer to the almost always snow covered country a real taste of nature's forces at work especially if you head out in the early hours of the morning before the sun even began to warm the air, if ever so slightly. Still, there are those who won't let the elements get in their way and Crime Sorciere was one such group as they trudged through the snow laced forest a few miles away from the town of Glacietta. The independent guild was marking week two in the cold country since their return from Fiore and the reason they were that far away from the town was due in part of a useful lead saying that the aforementioned town was facing an ever growing problem of strange creatures stalking around the outskirts and a number of people disappearing, which led to the request for help on any notice board that was available that didn't deal with dark mages. Lo and behold, the mysterious man the guild had been searching for was seen entering the town and going off at some point during the night to take care of the problem.

This is where Crime Sorciere now stood, cautiously making their way through the snowy forest as they followed the cries of pain coming from some sort of creature and the sounds of destruction that both followed it and proceeded it. The cautious group knew that they were growing closer as the destruction of trees and burn markings were becoming more apparent the further they followed the impromptu path. The continuous spikes in magic power that were felt every now and again didn't seem to put some of them at ease as Sorano began to inch closer to Jellal and Meredy stuck to her pseudo-mother's side as the magic itself felt suffocating when it spiked.

"It's just observation and nothing else, observation and nothing else." Racer repeated to himself under his breath as, given their current location, a cold sweat began to form on his brow as he eyed the destruction surrounding them.

Trees laid askew in odd ways, singed by flames if the dark burnt areas of their bark were of any indication of it. Although the same could be said about the ground on which they walked on as burnt earth continued to steam when the snow shifted towards it and the cratered path only told the former dark mage that it was a continuous flow of heat. The whole point of how dangerous of a situation they were in dawned on him even more when he noticed the frozen bodies of a number of strange looking creatures whose fangs were bared in a certain direction beforehand along with the deep claw marks they had left on both the ground and the bark on most of the trees. The horror scene didn't stop there as the guild came across frozen pieces of said creatures scattered around in a circle in one spot, obviously signifying that Zero stood his ground in that spot and smashed the frozen creatures' bodies to pieces if they leaped at him or surrounded him.

Cobra had heard what Racer was doing and grimaced at how nervousness was creeping up on his team mate, but he couldn't lie that he was trying his damnedest to hear for either Zero or more of these creatures. Sure he could take them on alongside his guild, but what was getting to him was the fact that a sole mage was dishing out all of this chaos and these things were just as equal to him since they were most likely to have caused all the burn marks and scorched earth around them. He gave one tree a good long stare as he saw strange tips jutting out of it, but as they were passing he realized that those were the tips of ice spears, all of which were holding the corpse of one of the strange creatures a few feet from the ground.

The poison dragon slayer gave Hoteye a look, the rock mage full knowing what he was asking and shook his head in response. The preacher could sense the devastation that the earth beneath him had gone through and his control over it was somewhat challenging as two different types of energy had embedded themselves into the ground. On one side there was the ice in which it literally froze the rock itself into ice, to which he couldn't liquefy it and the scorched rock was troublesome as the fire magic used on it didn't allow his magic to flow through to the rock which led to him having no effect on the ground when he casted his magic. Hoteye felt as if he was being blocked by whatever remnants were on the rock and it brought worry to him as he experimented on how much magic power he needed in order for it to turn to liquid; he wasn't so glad when it took some effort for him to get any response from the scorched earth.

Crime Sorciere continued to follow the battle torn forest until Jellal threw his hand out to stop everyone in their tracks as they were now glancing over a cliff's edge. The members were confused as to what was going on, they were following the path perfectly and now they were looking over the edge of a cliff with nothing more than confused stares. That is until the blue haired man pointed down towards the bottom did they realize that there was two figures facing one another down; a hooded individual who held a large crystal like broadsword in one hand, most likely their main target that they were searching for, and the other was a person that Ultear and Meredy instantly recognized. From where they stood it looked to be Rusty Rose down there; however, he looked odd to them in the sense that he looked slightly rounder and his body had a strange animated form to it even if it were encased in ice.

Their observations were cut short as the hooded figure rushed forwards and plunged the weapon deep into the odd looking Rusty Rose, but it didn't stop there as the crystal like sword exploded outward with jagged edges along the blade and even growing longer as well. Crime Sorciere looked on with a mixture of expressions as the hooded figure stood looking down upon the dying body of Rusty Rose, but it was Cobra who immediately panicked as his incredible hearing allowed him to listen in on the conversation below.

"Everybody move!" He yelled as he grabbed a hold of Sorano's hand and made a mad dash back into the forest as the others instantly began to follow after the dragon slayer.

"Cobra what's wrong!?" Racer asked in alarm as he caught up to the fleeing dragon slayer, although the grim expression on the slayer's face was telling him that it was nothing good.

"We've got to get out of the immediate area! The dying guy boasted about finally being able to call upon a demon of catastrophe and we're standing on its summoning zone!" Cobra informed, but cursed to himself as he noticed the dark purple seal above him in the sky as a claw began to reach out for the ground beneath it.

"Move it everyone, hurry!" Jellal called out as he used his meteor magic to give him an increased speed boost to save Ultear and Meredy from being attacked by the claw that was coming down.

"Poison Dragon's Roar!" Cobra shouted as he tried to attack the released demon, only to divert its claw away from them and have it pull more of its body from out of the seal.

The others watched in complete shock and awe as the demon's body was becoming even more visible with the passing seconds, each knowing that it would take a large portion of their magic to defeat the vile thing. Once Meredy was back on her feet again and running alongside her guildmates, she took a chance and looked behind her to see a sight she couldn't believe as the creature's shadow hung over them. It towered high above them, at a height she could only guess to be rivaling that of a fifteen storey building, adorned with numerous spikes littering its entire back with the largest protruding out of its shoulder blades and sharp jagged horns on the top of its head that seemed to glow ominously with its demonic power. The monster was a work of any living being's nightmares as it screeched at the top its lungs, which caused Cobra to suffer through one of the worst ear splitting sounds in his entire life and Hoteye had to assist the man before he collapsed to the ground in pain. Still a few steps behind the two, Meredy ran as fast and as hard as she could to match up with the others, the feeling of her lungs burning with the frigid air didn't waver her as the adrenaline that pumped through her blood kept her going and hoped it would continue until they were in a safer area.

The pinkette could understand the full scope of how screwed they were, she had seen the destruction a demon like that could do on its own and how many mages that had to be sacrificed in order to bring it down so she could only pray that the supposed demon hunter, Absolute Zero, would take care of it before they lost one of their own. No matter how powerful they were when fighting their regular opponents such dark guilds and bandits, Crime Sorciere knew when they were outclassed when crossing paths with creatures of legend like dragons and their offspring; the demon they were trying to escape from was no exception either. Meredy looked towards Jellal and saw that their blue haired leader was at a loss, most likely trying to piece together the events of going from a reconnaissance job towards running for their lives in a snow clad forest.

"Breath attack incoming! Spread out!" Midnight exclaimed as he diverged from the group into a new direction as everyone began to split off as well, experiencing the intense heat of death as it zoomed pass them in the direction they were originally running in.

The attack didn't stop there as a massive claw swiped upward sending dirt, rock and trees in all directions and Crime Sorciere was doing their best to avoid getting struck from the falling debris. Hoteye managed to construct a dome to protect his allies with and they all huddled inside as they continued to signal for the others to join them in the protective housing while the demon continued to slash at the ground causing the falling objects to become barrages of death falling from the sky above. So far Cobra and Sorano were already with the rock mage and they could see Racer, Midnight and Jellal rushing towards them although they hadn't spotted Ultear & Meredy yet.

"Where are they!?" Jellal looked through the available entrance as he was searching for his missing teammates amongst all the fallen trees and began to worry as he couldn't see any sign of them and refused to think the worst. His fears had not been answered as he could make out a tuft a pink hair running towards him and not far off he could also see silky raven hair swishing in the air.

The sensory mage had lost track of the others for some time before Ultear had directed her in the direction she witnessed Jellal heading to and followed after him, and much to their relief, everyone else was holed up in Hoteye's protective dome which left them as the last ones to enter. The raven haired woman was a little frazzled at the amount of times she was close to death again and wanted nothing more to get out of the hell her guild was placed into, but first they needed to regroup in order for their chances of survival to increase. Ultear could make out the figure of Jellal urging them on towards the safe area, but she lagged a little behind Meredy as the younger mage had been a few yards ahead of her when they first split up. The time mage was close to her destination, but immediately stopped in her tracks as the shadow of a large pine draped over her and back jumped as fast as she could before she was crushed from the falling tree, however her sudden jump didn't give her a means to know what was behind her and with misplaced footing she fell onto her back and a sharp pain shot through her. The feeling came from a jagged rock that had hit her on her lower backside, missing her spine by mere inches but the pain was still evident and it took her some time to let the pain subside until she was faced with a new problem.

"UR!" Meredy cried out towards her mother as she saw the large claw that loomed over the raven haired woman, all the while Ultear wasn't aware of it until the shadow was right on top of her.

The time mage grit her teeth as she quickly formed an ice shield to soften the blow, her ice was strong but it had limitations and she was unsure how much it could stand the full force of a demon's strike attack. There was no way for her to dodge it in time and to attack back wouldn't serve a purpose as her life was still in danger and she wasn't about to lose it again now that she was given another chance at it. She only hoped that the attack would be lessened with her ice so she could find a way to escape her predicament with her life, luckily her shield was formed and she shut her eyes prepared for the worst, but the blow never came.

Ultear opened her eyes slowly and she was amazed at the sight before her, one that would embed itself in her memory for years to come and she was sure of it especially as her savior was the hooded individual holding off the demon's claw with broad side of his crystal blade. No it wasn't crystal at all, for on closer inspection Ultear could see that it was actually made up of ice and she only continued to stare as the man didn't seem to waver under the pressure of the attack, given to the fact that there was a growing crater under them which shocked the raven haired woman even more.

"Get moving already! I'll hold it off!" The hooded man shouted as Ultear was brought back from her bewildered state and immediately got back onto her feet as she tried to make her way over towards the rest of her guild, although the pain at her side hampered her speed so she quickly opted out to sooth it with her ice magic for faster pain relief.

Meredy held onto Ultear as hard as she could, her fears nearly recognized all over again as the ravenette was just moments from death and no amount of reassurance would break her from gripping Ultear with everything she had. The time mage smiled slightly to herself at how much Meredy truly cared for her and used it as a way to ignore the pain the pinkette was causing her from the tight hug. Even so, the ravenette knew that they were far from safe as Crime Sorciere looked on at the battle that was unfolding in front of them; a single mage with the possible power that matched that of Natsu Dragneel versus a fifteen storey tall demon.

They watched as the monster raised its free claw in the air to strike down the mage beneath its right claw, but as it connected with the ground underneath it hit nothing at all and left a massive crater in its wake. The guild saw a streak of icy blue making its way up the creature's arm and they instantly knew it to be Zero, however it disappeared before them without a trace in sight and reappeared in the air above it. They watched with their absolute attention as a large blue seal formed around the falling mage's hands and witnessed a giant war hammer form in them as he swung down on top of the demon's head, effectively smashing it down into the ground with a loud crash as snow and dirt were sent out in all directions as a result. Though it didn't end there as the mysterious mage disappeared from the air and reappeared standing in front of the creature's face as another large seal was beginning to form, but this time it shattered as Zero was enveloped in a blue aura and vanished just in time to avoid the claw sweep that would've done serious damage.

Though climatic the battle may have been, it left Hoteye to push even more magic and concentrate even harder to maintain the dome as the two beings' power clash was sending dangerous amounts of debris to be thrown at them or land right on top and the continuous punishment required more of his magic power to withstand it. Ultear used her ice to help support the dome as well, although she couldn't help but be marveled at the display of power that was being displayed in front of them and before she knew it Meredy had gripped her hand in worriment as the pinkette had noticed a very troubling thing that came from her mother.

"Ur are you alright? You're shaking." Meredy asked as she held onto the ravenette's hands, never before seeing her shake that much as she had always seen Ultear as a very calm woman no matter the situation.

"It's alright Meredy, I'm fine." Ultear replied, but truth be told she was now understanding the worried looks the others wore when they first encountered Zero as she was now feeling the effects of how overpowering his magic was. There were very few individuals that she has come across in her time that could make her feel this way and they were long gone since then, but she definitely knew that those spikes of magic power had all come from him and this time it remained constant which was why she was truly feeling the scope of how strong the mage is.

"Warp magic, so it seems he does have it at his disposal." Midnight spoke up as no one had said anything for a while, watching the battle continue with a calculating eye, trying his hardest to follow Zero's movements before he'd disappear or the demon got in the way.

"I had my thoughts on that ability being plausible, but you saying that puts it in the right." Jellal said as he too watched the battle with a critical eye, never before seeing such powerful magic being used so seamlessly compared to some others he's seen. "Absolute Zero's capable of it and uses it towards his advantage, making sure he's not in the same place for long or getting a better strike zone to deal the most damage."

"Jellal we must evacuate soon, I won't be able to hold the dome for much longer." Hoteye said as he was beginning to feel the strain of keeping their cover intact, but was glad that Ultear had stepped in and assisted in reinforcing it with her magic.

"Ultear do you think you can take over?" The blue haired man asked as the situation outside was still too dangerous to make another dash for cover. "We still don't have an opening for us to get deeper into the forest."

"I'll see what I ca-"

"Another breath attack incoming!" Sorano exclaimed cutting off the raven haired woman, but it didn't matter as both Ultear and Hoteye increased the fortification ten fold, preparing for the worst of the attack to hit them.

"Ice Devil's Rage!" Crime Sorciere heard Zero shout and looked on as an attack of snow, ice and frigid air shot forth from what they guessed to be his mouth and watched as it countered the demon's own breath attack, up to the point where it completely overpowered it.

With the attack countered, they watched as he rushed the demon with various attacks ranging from blunt weapons to lethal ice blades all the while the monster was waning down onto its knees from the continuous barrage. The independent guild gazed as its limbs began to freeze to the ground and the hooded mage warped once more a few hundred feet in the air. This time an even larger seal formed above his head with his hands already gripping what they believed to be a handle, much like the first blade he wielded, however they were baffled as a ridiculously long broadsword formed instead as it easily was several times bigger than the wielder. In one fluid motion, Zero brought the ice blade down on the demon's neck and the independent guild looked down as it screeched in pain and squirm whatever part of its body that wasn't already frozen before it remained still and lifeless.

Crime Sorciere stood their ground as they hadn't thought about moving, wondering if everything was alright and awaited some form of orders from Jellal that would help them get going on their next move. The silence was broken as they all could hear the crunching of snow coming towards them, full knowing that Zero was approaching them and they had yet to even think about what they should do since they were bracing for their lives for the past ten minutes or so. The tattooed leader finally pulled himself together and put on his hood, signalling to the rest to do the same as a cough from the outside was already telling them that Absolute Zero was waiting.

"You can all come out now, it's over already." Came the mage's deep and monotonous voice as they peeked out to see him having his arms crossed, waiting patiently for them to come out of the dome.

Slowly they all came out one at a time with Hoteye being the last as he dispelled his rock dome and stood behind the whole group, although at the moment the mage in front of them was the second tallest as he was nearly a head taller than Jellal since Cobra was as tall as the blue haired man and the others were shorter than them. They had their hoods so that most of their face was covered, but the same could be said about Absolute Zero as his face was shrouded by the shadow of his hood. From what the group could see in appearance wise, he was a muscular build given to how his crossed arms look even if they were hidden underneath a pair gloves that covered most of his forearm, a metal chestplate covered his torso and he wore a simple pair of black baggy pants tucked into a pair of steel tipped boots that reached a bit past his calves. In a way he did look rather intimidating, especially if you take into account of not being able to see his face and adding a broadsword in his hand.

"It's about time you came out of your protective shell," At this point he uncrossed his arms and placed one hand on his hip while he pointed towards their guild's leader with the other, "but please answer me this Jellal Fernandes. Why is Crime Sorciere following me and why exactly are you lot doing here?" He questioned and the blue haired man was taken aback at how a mage he was barely meeting for the first time knew who he was.

"I'm afraid that's on a need to know basis Absolute Zero." Jellal replied as he lowered his hood, seeing as keeping the mystery on their part was meaningless if he knew who they were already and watched as the man in front simply put his other hand onto his hip as well.

"Well whatever, I'll figure it out sooner or later. For now get your asses in gear and follow me." He said, turning his back to them and walking off into a different direction instead of towards town.

"Woah, woah, woah hang on a minute, why exactly should we follow you?" Cobra questioned with a sharp glare pointed towards the mysterious mage's back while said mage stopped in his step. "For all we know, you're preparing to ambush us and take us all out."

"If I was planning that then I wouldn't have bothered saving any of you. Look, it's the least you can do after being nothing more than possible casualties on my job, besides, aren't you all trying to redeem yourselves or something? Help perform a community service for the greater good of Glacietta and its people." Zero shot back as he continued to walk off in his original direction while the others looked towards Jellal for his opinion and the blue haired man simply sighed before following after the hooded mage.

"We're seriously gonna follow this guy?" Racer asked as they were only supposed to see what the guy does, not lag behind him as if they were playing follow the leader and the strange sensation still crept up on him on what exactly is the hooded man. "You saw what he did in that forest, what's left of it anyways, oh and not to mention how he SINGLE HANDEDLY FOUGHT A FUCKING DEMON!"

"It's all part of what I have to do and could you not shout, I can hear you fine from here." Zero called back in his monotone voice at the front of the group, who in fact was a few yards ahead of them. "Keep the whining to yourselves if you can, we're almost there."

"Where is _'there'_ exactly?" Meredy asked no one in particular as they continued to follow the mage through one side of cliff and down towards the lower valley the independent guild saw him fight in.

"How about we pass the time with a little bit of talking? I'll start," Sorano tried to think up a topic, but her mind mainly focused on the hooded mage they were following so she decided to take a chance and speak to him. "Alright I've got to ask, what magic do you wield Mr. Absolute Zero?"

"Just call me by my name or just Zero, I personally don't like formalities. Anyways to answer your question, I thought it was pretty clear that I'm an ice mage." Zero replied without sparing a glance behind him towards the white haired woman who asked him.

"We could tell you wield ice magic, but what we saw was something beyond it since there isn't an ice mage alive who can go toe-to-claw with a demon." Cobra spoke up as magic that was performed like that went way above anything Ultear could do, especially when he focused on Zero's own breath attack. His _'Ice Devil's Rage'_ if he could correctly recall it was easily a similar attack like his dragon's roar and the one eyed slayer could tell that there was more to the mage in front of them then they knew.

"Maybe I'm just a special snowflake." He replied as the air once again grew stale and no one really had much to say that wasn't going to be a question for the mage up in front, which of course they had their own thoughts of how those might end. "You don't need to hold your breaths for long, alright? Anyways we're almost there, it should be behind the upcoming bend.

Zero had led them towards the side of a jagged mountain where a cave was located at its base and the ice mage walked right inside, signalling for the others to follow them yet they still felt uneasy about going into a dimly lit cave with the man who did all the damage at their previous location. With their guards on high alert, they quickly followed him in as Jellal used his magic to increase the lighting situation of the cave, however he wished he didn't. Once they could see the inside of the cave, they believed that they were in one of Midnight's illusions as everything before them was nothing short of a nightmarish horror scene. Bodies were laid askew alongside the cave walls and floor as they seemed to have been cut open or were mauled apart by something; Men, women and children laid there with blank fear filled eyes with what the guild could only imagine was their last moments of life in this hell hole. Meredy and Sorano felt the bile climb up their throats as they continued walking through the hellish scene, hoping that the each step they took wouldn't sound squishy at all as the last thing they wanted to do was step on a what used to be a person's intestines. Both women had also held back their tears as the sight of this many people who had lost their lives in such gruesome fashions was weighing down on their hearts, sure they thought about doing such things to their enemies long ago, but seeing it now was becoming too much to bear.

Cobra's sense of smell was having the worst reaction to all the blood in the cave and the insides of people, slightly wishing he brought a face cover since this was becoming more and more nauseating for him. Racer learned to hate the deaths of the innocent and seeing all this was subsiding his nervousness towards Absolute Zero and replacing it with sheer anger at the loss of life that was surrounding him; a similar thing could be said about Hoteye. The former mercenary may not have been a real preacher, but he sent a personal prayer to those who have fallen for safe travels towards the Golden Meadow of peace that awaited them. Midnight seemed indifferent of what he was looking at, but Jellal could tell that he was trying to digest every last bit of what he was seeing, no doubt planning to use it in one of his illusions when he fought someone. The blue haired man understood that the sight in front of him would send any sane man over the edge into insanity and wanted an answer as to why in the hell they were doing there.

"Is there a reason for taking us here Zero or are you simply enjoying our disgust of what's happened to these poor people!?" Jellal questioned awaiting a response from the ice mage as he let out a solemn sigh and Ultear narrowed her eyes, making sure to hear him out perfectly.

"The men were dragged here and used as food for both the demons and their Ziost hounds; the creatures you saw before getting to the cliff's edge earlier. The woman were raped, beaten and drained of their blood to be used as special tonic for them and lastly the children. They didn't have to suffer through this unforgiving hell as they were sacrificed to bring forth the demon I fought, their main purpose for being used was because they had the purest form of virgin blood and untainted souls that would make the summoning much easier to do." The members of Crime Sorciere could feel the temperature in the cave plummet as even Ultear began to feel the chill of his magic pouring out, most likely in anger to what's happened. "This is the job I do and what I come across when hunting demons, they are nothing more than sadistic blemishes upon Earth Land that have to be wiped right off."

"It's just sickening of what they are capable of." Hoteye spoke up as Zero merely scoffed at his claim.

"You have no idea, especially since none of this had to happened. The demon in charge had managed to go insane thinking this was the only way of summoning his demon of catastrophe, when in fact he simply had to give up his own demonic essence to summon it." Ice began to form over the bodies as they were slowly being hidden away by the layers of it, obscuring the horrors of the cave. "He only needed to give up his own life to summon it and yet he laid waste to this many people."

"We are sorry to hear about their fate, Zero. We'll help you bury them, unless you need us to take them back to Glacietta?" Jellal said as the hooded man merely shook his head in reply before continuing down further into the cave.

"Twenty-five people are dead, the posted request claimed forty-six had gone missing or were kidnapped, but it went up to fifty-three once I came into the town to confirm that I was on the job. The reason I told you to follow me will be because I'll be needing your help to get the survivors back to the town." Zero replied as he lifted his hand to touch an ice wall they came across at the end of the cave, only for it to immediately vanish once he removed his hand from it.

Crime Sorciere was then facing a large group of people who were scared out of their wits, hugging one another for safety while the remaining men stood at the forefront protecting the women and children. Jellal could see the fear in all their eyes and sympathized with them after experiencing such an awful ordeal, he was about to say that they were friendlies, but as he tried to make a move the townsfolk cowered in fear and retreated further back into what little space was left of the cave. Zero stepped up as he signalled for Meredy and Sorano to follow him, both women were unsure if they should go along with it, but conceded and stood a little behind him as the larger man put his hands in front of him in a non threatening manner.

"Alright everyone, everything's gonna be okay. I'm the mage who's been sent here to rescue you and these people are here to assist me too, so there's nothing to fear." Zero moved his cloak over to allow the people to see his name on his chestplate and it became apparent that the people seemed to have relaxed once they realized who was standing before them. "Alright everyone, we'll be getting you all back to your homes safely, but I need those who aren't able to walk on their own and who are too young to group up right in front of me."

The independent guild members looked on as the townsfolk assisted nearly thirteen people who had broken bones to where Zero directed them and looked on as the children began to help support them once the very few adults had managed to bring them to the spot. It was a sad sight to see as there were only six men, ten women and twelve children left, where the injured consisted of every single woman since they had at least one broken leg. Mostly likely the doing of the demons to avoid having them fight back or running off with the last three being children who were man handled severely. With all of them securely in one spot, Zero took on a maker stance; one of which was much too similar to a certain ice mage's that Ultear would never forget.

"Ice Make: Sled" A large sled was created beneath the injured and the children with an ice chain leading from the front of it up towards Zero's fist and winding around his arm as he began to pull the survivors. "I need you to watch over the ones that decide to walk, whether it be the men or kids that are tired of sitting on the sled." Zero told the other guild mates as he continued to walk past them and Crime Sorciere was glad that he managed to freeze over the entire cave so no one would bear witness of the evil that had transpired there.

The members kept pace with those who decided to walk and continuously scanned the area for any signs of an ambush, utilizing Cobra as their radar so he could pinpoint where hostile movement was, but what they didn't know was that Zero had already made countermeasures beforehand and that he stayed true to his name of being a demon hunter since he literally hunted every last one in the area down before the independent guild even showed up. Ultear took a glance behind her at the man they were sent to keep an eye on and her original interest skyrocketed when she saw him perform his maker magic. The raven haired woman couldn't say for sure that she remembered her mother's maker technique, but enough experience looking after Gray and later Lyon had given her the chance to see it for herself and there was no doubt his technique matched theirs.

Aside from the still hidden face, Ultear saw the mysterious mage trudging along in the snow, simply behind the rest of the group tugging the sled that held the remaining survivors, although one of the children had managed to find his way onto his shoulders. The time mage would've expected to see the hooded man tell the young boy to get off and back on the sled, but instead he didn't say a word and continued on which was interesting considering how he acted with them prior to the townspeople's rescue.

Ultear had decided to slow down her walking space until she was at Zero's pace, wishing to get some of her own questions answered as they were now piling up the more her guild was around him. She noticed the slight turn of his head and assumed that he acknowledged her presence, yet didn't say anything at all with the boy merely giggling on his shoulders as the other kids began to complain that they wanted to go next. The ravenette was ever so curious about the other ice mage's behavior as she had beared witness to his ruthlessness on the battlefield and his cold attitude towards Crime Sorciere, but was gentle with civilians and the kids who had now began to take turns using the chain as a means of climbing aboard his shoulders and getting a ride on them. The time mage found it quite interesting how well these kids managed to use that chain to get there, but she could tell that Zero was subtly doing what he could to help them get on. Even so, those qualities weren't going to deter her true intention of learning who had taught him how to wield maker magic like that and how was it so powerful to counter a demon like the one he faced not thirty minutes ago.

"Look, if you've got something to say then do so. You're creeping the kid out the more you stare at me." Zero spoke up, bringing her out of her own thoughts as she looked up to see the little boy on his shoulders nodding his head in agreement.

"My apologies, I was trying to find the correct words to speak to you with." Ultear replied as Zero merely grunted to her answer and continued to walk on as the kids still switched off at different time intervals.

"No need to try, just say it since it makes everything easier when you're not looking for the right words." The hooded ice mage spoke up again as he shifted his shoulders slightly since the latest kid, a little girl no older than six, didn't get the correct footing for her to climb on his back and onto his shoulders.

"Very well then, I'm curious as to who was your master and why your ice make far surpasses that of any others. Including the woman who defeated Deliora in Brago, Ur." Ultear stared intently at the man as he remained silent for a good minute, the only sounds coming from the rest of the group in front of them and also from the women and children speaking to each other behind them on the sled.

"My past is mine alone and I prefer to leave it as such and if you didn't quite catch my previous spells in combat then you would've known the second type of magic I use." He replied once again in a monotonous voice as Ultear focused back on the breath attack he used to counter the demon's. "But if you need a hint, I'm a slayer."

"So you're a demon slayer, I've heard about dragon and god slayers, so this shouldn't be much of a surprise." In truth, Ultear actually was surprised by the information as the man she was walking next to was capable of giving Tartaros a run for their money once she found out that the head members were really demons from the Book of Zeref.

"Close, I'm a devil slayer, an ice devil slayer to be exact and it falls more in line of a god slayer since there is such a thing as angel slayers in the world. Which means that a demon slayer falls a tier lower than what I am." Zero clarified as Ultear began jotting down mental notes as this would most likely go into their report for Erza once they return to Fiore.

"Interesting, so there are tiers amongst slayers although I'm unsure about dragon slayer, but let's move on to what else I have to say." Ultear waited for a sign to continue and it came in the form of a small nod from the hooded ice mage. "You are fearsome in combat and yet here you are as a personal ride for these kids, care to say why that's the case?"

"I do everything in my power to help the people I come across and scaring kids isn't something I do, unless it calls for it which is a very rare case. Either way, these kids have been through a lot and the least they can do is play around until we get them back home, besides it's our job to help protect and teach the next generation." Zero replied as he raised his hand up, getting a high five from the current boy on his shoulders.

"So you're a family man I presume?" Ultear inquired as she notice the man ever so slightly stiffen before brushing it off and she knew that she must've hit a touchy subject.

"No not really, it's just me now but I know the feeling of family and caring for someone, just to make it clear that I'm not some cold bastard to you guys. I'm sure you can relate given to how the pink haired one was nearly shedding tears when you were almost killed before I stepped in." Ultear began to feel flustered at his claim since he wasn't wrong in his assumption as she felt much more connected with Meredy ever since she returned to her.

The raven haired woman was trying to think up a way to reply to him, but it became slightly difficult as the children began to complain that it was their turn to ride the hero's shoulders and reached out for the boy who was currently on them. The struggling to maintain the spot was evident on the boys face as the others began to reach out for him, but as the little boy became distracted he lost his balance, releasing his grip on the man's head and became fearful as he desperately tried to reach for something to hold on to as he felt himself falling backwards. Luckily Ultear was quick on her feet as she caught the falling boy, while he held tightly to her arms as he tried to calm himself down after a scary situation like that and raven haired woman gave him a kind smile to ease his worries.

"Is he alright?" Zero had turned to check as Ultear could hear the worry in voice, most likely not wanting anymore people getting hurt even more so than how they already were on their travel back to town.

"It's fine, I caug-" Ultear didn't finish her sentence as her breath caught in her throat as she turned to look at Zero, her eyes were wide in shock as she looked onto a face she wanted to see once again after so many years. "Gray!?"

"Shit..."

* * *

 **Author's Note** **:** _Looks like that wraps up that chapter and I hope all of you enjoyed it. Feel free to review, follow or even recommend it to someone you know that would enjoy this story or the main one I'm currently working on. The choice is yours and I hope to see you all in the next chapter, stay awesome!_


	7. A Fallen Fairy's Tale

**Author's Note:** _Here's the next chapter for TOWIT everyone, and just for a heads up, this will sort of be dialogue heavy so bear that in mind. Other than that hope you enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

A Fallen Fairy's Tale

Ultear's shock was prominent as she looked onto the face of the man who had changed her life for the better, the one person she couldn't believe had died five years ago without her knowledge. There was no doubt in her mind that the face she was staring at belonged to Gray Fullbuster, given that there were notable changes compared to the one she remembered as he stared back at her with an unreadable expression in his eyes. His face still appeared to look like Gray, though a few years older into a more rogue like appearance with a brand new scar adorning his face that began slightly above his mid brow and continuing on across his right eye and stopping on top of his cheekbone. The taller raven's locks still were as spiky and unruly as she remembered it to be, but slightly shorter before he pulled his hood back on and continued to move forward.

"Is everything okay back there?" Jellal questioned as Cobra had informed him that Ultear called out behind them, thinking that she might have seen something.

"We're fine, the woman thought she saw movement in the trees nearby when it was a simple snow hare." Zero, now confirmed as Gray by Ultear, called back as the raven haired woman brought herself out of her stupor and marched closer to the taller man.

Ultear plastered her gaze on Gray as she knew he could feel her staring him down, waiting for him to say something in response to the fact that she had found out who exactly he was. After what had happened, the children had stopped climbing onto the devil slayer's back as the woman next to him brought about a sense of worriment since she was glaring daggers at their hero. The time mage could not understand why he won't say a word; she had discovered who he was, giving one of her most chilling stairs and if it wasn't so obvious, she was standing right next to him as her young self again! Now she knew her memories weren't false and that the mage she was glaring at knew what she had done and what become of her, so there was no possible way for him not to react to the revelation that she had returned.

"Why are you keeping silent?" The time mage questioned as she had had enough of the silent treatment and wanted answers to some of the major questions she wanted to bring across him.

"What do you mean?" Gray replied and it only ticked Ultear off even more as he began to feign ignorance and answer with a challenging question. The raven haired woman knew people's tones of speech and could tell that Gray was trying to make sure she let go of everything that just happened, but there was no way a woman with her pride would back down so easily.

"You know exactly what I mean _Zero,_ so choose your words carefully." Ultear replied as she made her threat come across very well, knowing that Gray wanted to keep his identity a secret.

"Alright fine, I'll play your game." The hooded man replied as a small victorious smirk appeared on her face before he spoke up again, "But you've got to be careful with what questions you're going to ask me. I'm only giving you three so make sure to think long and hard about them."

"Seems fair enough I suppose, but we'll discuss them at a later time. Once these people are safely within the town walls of Glacietta, we can have our talk." Ultear said as continued to walk alongside Gray, who merely sighed aloud and kept pulling the sled along as the air around him grew stale with how much the woman at his side was making sure he wouldn't simply vanish once in town.

* * *

It was already early afternoon once Absolute Zero, Crime Sorciere and the survivors had arrived into town and were all greeted with cheers of joy as the people began to crowd around the devil slayer and the survivors, helping them towards the nearest doctors and assisting the children in finding their families. The independent guild had made their way away from the crowd and grouped themselves with each other, however they were short one person. Like the quiet threat she had made, Ultear stuck close to Zero to make sure that he wouldn't get away amidst the citizens before she got her answers although the rest of her guildmates were puzzled by her actions. Jellal was unsure of what the raven haired woman was doing as their job of reconnaissance and helping the survivors were already over, so they could head back to Fiore and report to Erza about their findings. The blue haired man had made attempts to garner her attention, but she simply waved it off and continued to stick close to Zero.

"What in Earth Land is she doing?" Jellal couldn't understand what had gotten into her all of a sudden and looked on towards his guild for any insight.

"Can't blame her if she found a new man toy." Cobra spoke up as he couldn't really think of any other reason as to why she stayed over there with him and reading her mind was out of the question as she had a number of barriers that wouldn't allow him to read what her thoughts were like.

"You know what they say, women are attracted to powerful men." Racer spoke up as a grin spread across his face. "But I'm sure it's quite the opposite in Jellal's case." The former dark mage snickered at his own joke while Cobra gave off a short chuckle as he did find it amusing how true that was.

"Oh grow up, but I can't deny that I'm a bit curious to know more about Zero." Sorano spoke up although she knew she had to say something since their blue haired leader kept quiet after Racer's comment, knowing that he had become flustered by it.

"E-Either way, we must get going. I'll try to get her attention again before I send Meredy to get her." Jellal finally said, branching off from his flustered stupor and once again trying to get the time mage's attention.

Across from them, Zero was speaking towards the town's mayor about his payment and how he should send a few men to retrieve and bury the bodies of the unfortunate. It was simple business talk from there with the occasional 'thank you' from the mayor here and there, but Ultear found it interesting how the hooded man only took thirty percent of the job's payment and how he said that it was enough for him for the time being. Without making any obvious signs of listening in, the raven haired woman caught on to an address to leave the rest of his payment in a town called New Deliora. That in itself was troublesome as that was the name of the demon that took Gray's whole life away from him and the one that took her mother as well, but she couldn't understand why someone would call a town that. Her personal questions aside, she made sure to keep track of where it was for the purpose of discovering where he might be based at.

Once their discussion had ended, the hooded man looked at her as Ultear was now able to see his face again rather than the shadowed one he showed towards the rest of her guild. The time mage couldn't understand why she felt so different knowing that Gray was alive, of course she felt elated that Meredy was wrong and Gray had survived, but she had the weirdest sense of worry for the fact that no one knew he even existed aside from her. Too entrapped by her thoughts of the possible ways of why that is, Ultear was shaken out of her mindscape when the taller man snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Spacing out doesn't seem to be one of things I remember you doing." Gray said as the other ravenette crossed her arms in response. "Anyways, your boyfriend's been trying to get your attention for the past ten minutes since we got here." He continued, pointing towards Jellal as she had finally given her full attention towards him.

"He's not my boyfriend, besides I'm sure he has someone else in mind." Ultear replied as she watched the taller man shrug his shoulders in reply. "It's high time I get my answers so you are coming with me."

"Pushy aren't we, but that's you to the letter." Gray replied, watching as the time mage merely tapped her foot and pointed towards the area where her guildmates were waiting for them. "You'll get them in due time; firstly we need to start moving towards the shore so I can get to Bosco."

"Bosco? Why do we need to do that?" She knew his job was done like theirs, yet he was going off to another country rather than heading for wherever New Deliora is. Although she couldn't help but guess that it may be located somewhere very familiar to Gray.

"I'm on a job and this one was thankfully on my way there. I need to move fast because it'll be a lot harder for me if I'm held back any long." Gray replied as he waved good bye towards some of the children who had found their families and the adults that were being taken away for their injuries. "With enough headway between Glacietta and the nearest port town, I'll answer your questions."

Ultear had to reluctantly agree to his terms as the former pupil of her mother's seemed to have become a rather busy freelance mage, with all the stories they've gathered for information proving it very much so. The time mage signaled the rest of Crime Sorciere to get ready as they were going to be heading out, much to Jellal's annoyance as he was embarrassed for her lack of compliance. There wasn't much he could do at that point and followed through with her order, she was of course the founder and leader of the independent guild before her disappearance while he was second beside her. With an exasperated sigh he had informed the rest of the guild that they were heading out although he couldn't help but overhear two of the children that were rescued talking to one another.

"Can you believe the town really got Absolute Zero to save us!?" One of the kids remarked, a boy with hair that equalled that of the midnight sky and held excitement in his tone which Jellal had found rather interesting in someone who was just freed from such a terrible predicament.

"I know! I'm sure he was super awesome kicking those guys' butts everywhere!" The second one remarked, a shorter girl with blazing red hair who had an equal amount of enthusiasm like the first. "When I get older, I'm gonna learn magic so I could join the Ice Zeroths' guild or maybe even Fairy Tail so I can be as strong as him one day."

A small smile crept on the blue haired man's face as the girl had oddly reminded her of Erza, but what really caught his interest was the first guild name she had said aloud as this was one of the first times he's ever heard of it. He had the oddest sensation that whoever these Ice Zeroths were, they may have something to do with Zero since he could hear the boy agree with her happily in joining that guild. Jellal was brought out of his questioning thoughts when he was struck on the shoulder with a snowball from none other than Ultear herself, who was forming another one in her hands as he looked at her.

"Are you getting a move on or are you just going to stand there?" The raven haired woman asked the blue haired man as he began walking towards them to catch up, standing besides Ultear once he was finally in step with everyone else.

"What were you doing earlier?" Jellal questioned towards the time mage as she explained to him the reason for her actions and he accepted them in turn since she was going to get some information from the hooded mage directly.

"He'll answer them once he believes that we've gone far enough, so all we need to do is remain patient." They were intruding on his job for the most part, but she was inwardly glad that he was willing to speak to her instead of warping himself out of the town and away from her.

"I'm sure you have questions of your own to say Ultear, but ask him who the Ice Zeroths are. I have my suspicions about them, but he may be able to tell us who exactly they are." The blue haired man understood that Ultear was the only one he was willing to speak with, whether it was due in part that he recognized her as a fellow ice mage or as the daughter of one of the most powerful ice mages from years past was unknown to him.

Crime Sorciere continued to follow behind Zero, marching through the snow covered ground with their destination unknown besides the fact of making their way towards the the shores of Isvan so the demon hunter can make it towards Seven and cross the border into Bosco. Most of the them weren't about to complain after witnessing the sheer might of his power and Cobra wasn't up to try and hear his innermost thoughts, for the possibility that he too would have barriers up like Ultear and catch him in the act. Meredy was worried though as her pseudo-mother looked apprehensive about the current situation and was not keen on the idea of simply having her speak one on one with Zero without anyone to support her, even if the rest of them were only going to be a few yards away. She trusted Ur deeply and knew not to have doubts about her judgments, but there was still the worrisome feeling in the pit of her stomach saying that there was so much more to the hooded individual that she should know about instead of being left in the dark. She simply had to wait and see what would happen, full knowing that they all had to give their all if things went sour although she hoped it wouldn't come to that with Zero's abilities that could give even Jellal a hard time.

Not many words were spoken as the group trudged through the snow, hours had passed since their departure from Glacietta and if Jellal's sense of direction was correct then they had finished getting past most of Aba Forest by now. A few side comments and a bit of chatter was basically it when it came to any conversation on their trip as the snowy expanses and forested areas began lessen and to give way to tundras with snow covered hill tops, until the most curious thing happened. Midway through, a bright light engulfed their line of sight before dimming down and the area of snow disappeared as green hills could be seen off in the distance and the tundra they were standing on became a spring meadow. Never before had Crime Sorciere witnessed an event like this, but the more interesting aspect about the situation was that there was a fair amount of snow littering areas behind them barely a mile away. Many of the members enjoyed feeling the warmer climate as it was refreshing after being stuck with the cold for two weeks straight, however both leaders were skeptical of the sudden natural phenomenon.

"What is going on? I've never heard of something like this happening in Isvan before." Jellal commented as not a single dune of snow could be seen besides the one behind them, with only dew drops upon the grass and leaves.

"We're still miles away from the port town, but this'll do fine and to answer your question, this is the power of Season Creation Magic." Zero replied as he signalled Ultear to step closer, while the others looked on curiously at the now spring time forest.

"I've never heard about this type of magic before, although I do understand how useful it is to this forest. Aba Forest is known to have an eternal winter blizzard, even by Isvan's standards." Meredy spoke as this quite practically one of the rarest forms of magic she has seen aside from whatever Zero uses, but she was glad she didn't have to worry the little things about this one.

"Spot on Pinky; let's just say that an old friend of mine is in charge of all Aba Forest and I'm sure she's training her apprentices since there's still plenty of snow around the area." Zero said although he didn't turn around to see Meredy's sour face after hearing the nickname he had given her, even if he was a powerful mage she wasn't going to enjoy being called names. "Alright Ultear I'm ready for whichever question you have for me."

"Good, now wh-" She didn't get a few words out before he held up his gloved hand and silenced her, using the other to flick his wrist up and cast one of his spells for her to hear.

"Ice Make Ice Blizzard: Ensealment" Instantly an entire blizzard had surrounded the two and if one to look careful at the swirling vortex, they could see shards of ice within it that were as sharp as knives, drawing concern for Meredy who was about to reach out for Ultear before Hoteye stopped her.

She was confused at his actions until Cobra tore out a tree branch and cautiously walked up to the blizzard, sticking in the branch for a few seconds before pulling out what was left of it. The swirling blizzard had literally tore apart the branch with ease as one ice shard still remained embedded into the bark, the dragon slayer showing her the reason as to why the earth mage stopped her advance. The pinkette wasn't going to stand for it and immediately created a sensory link between her and Ultear so that she could feel anything that was out of place and warn the others to help break through the blizzard. She had faith the raven haired woman would be fine, but it wouldn't stop her from taking precautions if something went bad. Jellal had a similar outlook on the situation and gave Cobra a knowing look, but clicked his tongue when the dragon slayer shook his head as now they couldn't hear anything that was happening on the inside. He had to credit Zero for making sure that the only person who would hear his answers was the Ultear and it bothered him how he chose her alone instead of speaking with him since he was the current head of Crime Sorciere.

In the inside of the ice blizzard, Ultear had no idea what Gray was thinking when he casted his spell and she knew better than to try and stick her hand through the tormenting winds and ice that encircled them. Though unique the spell was, she could easily say that it reminded her of Erigor the Reaper's Wind Wall; however, she couldn't hear her allies on the other side and this blizzard could prove to be much more lethal. She looked towards the devil slayer for an explanation and waited as he lowered his hood revealing his face once again for her to see and the time mage couldn't help but feel a sense of calm wash over her knowing that it truly was Gray under all that mysterious act he was doing with them.

"I decided that we needed a little bit of privacy." Gray finally said as he motioned his hands towards the blizzard around them, before crossing his arms and staring at her intently, an action she couldn't believe had he slightly jerk back. "Your three questions starts now; make them count."

"Very well, tell me who and what exactly are the Ice Zeroths." Ultear said as a smirk appeared on the other ice mage's face and she somehow felt that annoying it may become she could deal with it over time.

"So you've all heard of them, huh? To put it simply, they are considered Isvan's number one guild." He replied losing his smirk as the annoyed look on Ultear's face was killing the mood for it. "The guild was actually built up by people and mages I've encountered and rescued over the course of time I've been working around here, Seven and Iceberg with some of them learning magic to be a part of it."

"You've created a guild here in Isvan, but what I don't understand is why did you do it when you're already a part of Fairy Tail." Ultear remarked as she tried to avoid making it sound like a question, knowing that he may use it as a means to find a loophole in their agreement.

"To be precise, I didn't create the guild. Many of those people went off in search of me to become my student and all but one had failed, so I made it fair for them by teaching them a few ways of life that they should abide by. The same ones I do everyday of my life, from there they banded together to construct and create a guild after me since they used my words as a basis for their guild rules." Gray said as he remembered the day he had heard of the Ice Zeroths' inclusion amongst the very limited legal guilds in Isvan as he hadn't, at the time, thought that they would all band together to make one. "I intervened and had a few words with them about it, but we came to an understanding and they let me appoint someone I trusted to become their guild leader."

"You do seem to garner popularity for the deeds you have done." Ultear said as she could see him slightly flinch at the last few words that she had spoken, but now came the serious question she had for him. The one that had rested on her mind for hours on end, going in circles trying to find a very logical reason as to why she was the only one to remember Gray full while others forgot about him or believe he's dead. "Tell me...Tell me why no one knows who you are, but I do?

She waited for the taller man to say something in reply, but the look of uncertainty continuously flashed on his face as he debated whether or not he should tell her and Ultear had the slightest notion that she may need to push further to get her answer. It was already troublesome to know that she felt so detached and saddened to know of his supposed fate and how elated she was one she discovered that he was alive; things that had never before came to mind as important since Fairy Tail's seven year disappearance after the attack on their sacred island. There was an audible say that escaped the slayer's mouth before he looked back in Ultear's direction and began taking a few steps closer although he was still keeping his distance.

"You picked a pretty hard question, but I believe you deserve to know." Gray said as he passed a hand through his hair before setting his face in a serious manner. "It happened four years ago in the battle against Alvarez. My team made our way back to Magnolia after liberating Hargeon from their occupation, once we made it back I found out that the Flaming Pyro went off to confront Zeref head on again and I wasn't about to let go alone this time. I got Wendy to heal my injuries as best as she could before going off in the direction they were coming from, but at the time I didn't know Natsu got holed up by someone making me the first to meet the rest of Zeref's army."

"Your bravado didn't seem to change during the fighting, since you had gone on a suicide mission and met before the black wizard and his army." Ultear said as she thought back at how he had supposedly fallen in battle and how much his acts always made him seem to go out in a blaze of glory.

"You'd want that to keep you going once you're stuck facing down thousands of enemies rushing out, and I held my ground as the waves came at me until Zeref himself met me face-to-face. I was staring him down and I could have ended it then and there, but I didn't. My body wasn't obeying me, I couldn't get it to move an inch and I was stuck hearing him out for what he had to offer me. He promised me that he could provide me the soul purpose that kept me going to improve my magic even further, the one task my father had entrusted in me ever since Fairy Tail defeated Tartaros."

"That can't be right, you were the sole survivor of Deliora's attack on your hometown." Ultear murmured as she had learned of his town's fate and knew that everyone there was deceased aside from Gray.

"I was, Tartaros used my father's body and unsettled soul to use a vessel for one of their own. They used necromancy to bring him back from the dead to put a three hundred and ninety four year old being, that would and can destroy them, inside his body so that it could be a part of their dark guild." The time mage could tell that his anger was spiking as the temperature was beginning to drop enough for her to feel a slight chill across her body. "He left me the mark of the being within him so that I could finish the job he couldn't, which was the destruction of E.N.D., and Zeref struck the deal to me where he can give me to him so long as I comply with his wishes."

Ultear remained silent as she was unsure where this was leading to, but a part of her had the slightest notion that Gray had drank from the unholy grail that was Zeref's promises and those were merely filled with holes that he had fallen through.

"He wanted me to stop everyone, to freeze them where they stood so that they could no longer inconvenience him any more and he'd give me the power to make sure that would happen. I...I didn't know why I agreed to do it, I couldn't go against my family like that although I couldn't lie that there was a part of me deep down that wanted to fight E.N.D." Ultear was preparing herself in case something were to happen as his anger continued to fuel around her through the blizzard, yet she noticed that it began to ease itself back into its original strength and knew that Gray was calming down. "I wanted revenge, revenge against Zeref and his demons for spitting on my father's grave after putting him in it in the first place. Not allowing his soul to rest in peace for seventeen years alongside my mother and making me strike him down for the last time before losing him for good."

The time mage was not a very emotional type of woman as she was still learning to express her emotions day by day with Meredy's help, but she understood sympathy and wished to give it all for her mother's pupil. She herself may have cursed her mother's name in vain, but in all honesty she had learned her magic so that she could be with her again rather than be sent and stuck at the Bureau. Ultear knew of the guilt Gray had shouldered after her mother's passing in their brief conversations and in their first battle against each other, so the raven haired woman knew that he still held plenty of anguish within himself for what happened against Tartaros and what she was learning of what happened near the end of the war against Alvarez.

"You'd think that what revenge has done to me in the past may have taught me better and avoid it, but I just couldn't stop myself from wanting to show that I finally had the ability to avenge all the people I lost because of him. So I'd do it by destroying his most precious demon right in front of him, but fate has a very sick taste in humor because as soon as I did what he asked me to, I was finally confronted by Zeref's greatest demon." Ultear had the feeling that the devil slayer must have had plenty of time to vent out his anger, but there was still some that lingered in his heart for doing a terrible act out of revenge. "It was a surprise to me when I discovered that my true opponent, the one I had to eliminate with the magic I inherited from my father, was none other than Natsu."

 _ **"I've heard the reports of the battle, but I never knew that Zeref's greatest demon was a respected member of Fairy Tail."**_ Ultear thought to herself as the news was very surprising and she believed that only Jellal may also know of this. "So Natsu was the one person you had to defeat and put an end to, it's a bit much to take in that one of Fairy Tail's iconic members was a creature created by Zeref.

"It may have been like that, but me and that pink haired moron let loose on each other as we fought tooth and nail to show which way the tide of war would face. We both wanted Fairy Tail to survive and all our friends to live another day, but I sought revenge whereas he sought redemption for his brother." The shocked look on Ultear's face was enough to tell Gray that she had caught on what the ice mage was hinting at. "That's right; the black wizard's real name was Zeref Dragneel and even with the supposed power he gave me to achieve the feat of freezing all my friends at the guild, my battle was already decided as I goaded Natsu into turning into his true form and I was nowhere near capable of fighting him anymore. Once he finally turned into E.N.D. I could no longer stand on my own two feet and I had made it to the end of my run as he through the last punch that defeated Gray Fullbuster; the traitor of Fairy Tail."

"And the battle continued on with Fairy Tail banding together to bring down Acnologia and Natsu Dragneel becoming the hero who dealt the final blow to both the dragon of destruction and Zeref." Ultear said as the news spread quickly around all of Ishgar and ended the recounting of Gray's tale for him before he wished to leave at that and warp away, but she wouldn't blame him.

"I remember looking up at the evening sky once I regained consciousness and the feeling of guilt wash over me as I had nailed in the last board of my coffin, I gave everything up for a chance to avenge the people I lost and I ended up losing. For the first time in what felt like years, I cried to myself at how stupid I was for making a deal with a devil and betraying the third family I ever had." Ultear once again had no words as this was proving to be something she had not expected for an explanation, one that she was starting to regret asking for information upon as it was opening wounds that should've remained closed. "And amidst all of it, I couldn't look into the eyes of the First Master as she gave me a smile filled with warmth with sadness laced in her eyes. I wasn't deserving of it, not after what I did to her guild and couldn't bring myself to ask for her forgiveness."

Ultear had heard of Fairy Tail's first master, Mavis Vermillion, returning from out of the blue during the war with Alvarez and she could guess why the First had looked on at Gray in that way. She remembered Hades once being the second guild master of Fairy Tail, the man that Mavis herself appointed to succeed her and knew that the First was aware at how the once honorable Precht of Fairy Tail had fallen into becoming the vile Hades of Grimoire Heart. The time mage could only assume that the first guild master had seen Gray in a similar light and wanted him to know something, what it was she couldn't really tell, but if she guess then it would be that she forgave him as he had his reason in doing so.

"Even so, he's still alive and finally able to live in peace."

"Of course Natsu is alive, they all made it with their lives bar a few exceptions who had fallen to the enemy troops." Ultear replied as Gray merely gave her a small smirk before speaking up again.

"Oh I know he is, but I wasn't talking about that pink haired idiot. It was Zeref I was talking about." Ultear's eyes widened in surprise at the revelation that the black wizard still lives among them, so much so that Meredy had picked it up and began to feel unease at the sudden feeling coming from Ultear on the other side of the blizzard. "A curse was placed upon him for tampering with the laws of nature, but Natsu and the First Master had managed to free him from it, so that he could finally live in peace and care for life without the fear of destroying it."

"How do you know all this?" The time mage heard plenty of legends concerning the reason the black wizard came to be, but it was if Gray had plenty of knowledge about him than she did and she was the one who had studied him for most of her life.

"He told me himself, when the battle was over and Alvarez was in full retreat he came to look for me on what was left of the battlefield where me and Natsu clashed. Could you believe he was thankful for having his curse lifted, but he had something else to say to me." Ultear had a feeling that what he would say next was the main purpose why no one knows him. "He wanted to give me a parting gift for being the closest thing Natsu had to a brother in his absence, Zeref had felt ashamed that he was not there for his younger brother but was grateful I could fill the role for him. He said that he was willing to change everything that had happened between me and the guild so that they wouldn't know about my betrayal, but I declined his offer as that was something I couldn't live with knowing while the others were blissfully unaware."

"Maybe you should have taken it, you could have still been a mage of Fairy Tail rather than the freelance Absolute Zero." Ultear suggested as Gray shook his head at her again, looking up at the clear sky above them for a moment as she believed him to be collecting his thoughts.

"I've had plenty of chances of screwing up in the guild and I felt that I've done enough so I chose not to do it and asked the First Master if she would be willing to allow me to set a plan I had in motion. She may have had her reserves about it, but in the end she agreed to it and I got Mest to block out everything about me from everyone's minds that I've interacted with. It took him some time to accomplish, but he actually did it in the end and even went as far as block me out of everyone in Crime Sorciere as well. I wanted to save them from having to deal with finding out that someone they deeply trusted had gone over and fought for the enemy just to enact a personal vendetta."

"That would explain why the others had no idea who you were." Ultear inquired as Gray nodded his head, although she was still wondering what had become of Zeref's offer. "I understand that you declined Zeref's offer, but did you do anything with it or allowed him to go free from there?" The time mage couldn't lie as a few years ago, she had dreamt of meeting Zeref in person once again, however she was still an elderly woman at the time and the next thing she knew, she woke up back in her youthful form.

"No, I used it for someone I knew that deserved a second chance more than anything." Gray said as he made eye contact with her and instead of smirking in her direction, he gave her a genuine smile. "And I'm looking right at her."

"You gave a gift from Zeref to me? Why?" Ultear was baffled, this was truly the first time someone had done something for her that wasn't coming from Meredy and she didn't really know how to react. She felt her face grow hot as he continued to smile at her and knew that she was losing her cool and becoming flustered by the sudden news. It wasn't any better for Meredy as she began to blush immensely and Sorano began to pick up on that, firstly teasing the pink haired girl about it and then suggesting a few naughty things that were going down within the icy vortex that had everyone hot and bothered.

"Sorry Ultear, but you've already wasted your three questions and I even gave you a bonus one." Gray replied as Ultear's flustered expression revealed itself as she had carelessly asked questions without realizing them and only served to give the taller ice mage a good laugh.

"I know I went over the limit, but just answer me that last question." Ultear wanted to know the reason behind the devil slayer's actions and hoped he was willing to answer them.

"Alright then, I guess I can humor a former council woman." Gray mused in a joking manner, with the time mage knowing that he was trying to alleviate the tension within his constructed blizzard. "In a way it was poetic justice; you spent so many years of your life tracking Zeref down so that you can use his power to be with Ur once again, but even though he couldn't change the clock back that far he gave you back the life you sacrificed during the battle against the dragons. I believed it was the least he can do and you deserved to life your life to the fullest. Saving you back on Tenrou was me bringing you back into the light, this right here is you second chance at life Ultear."

Through the words that he spoke, Ultear had now began to feel what happiness truly was and she couldn't deny that a part of her cold heart melted away at the ice mage's act of kindness to her. Gray not only saved her from continuing down the dark path in Grimoire Heart, but he had also provided the time mage with a second chance at life as well and a new sense of warmth spread across Ultear as his self sacrifice had touched her heart.

"Mavis herself dubbed me as the _Fallen Fairy_ , a named reserved for those rare mages of Fairy Tail who have lost their way in darkness, but I doubt I'll find my way back into the light of the guild." Ultear thought of it as a fitting name because he may have given in to the darkness all those years ago, he still acts like one of the Fairies.

"You could be wrong, there's still plenty of years ahead of you to change your mind about how you view the title and how you regard its meaning."

"Speaking of years, if I'm not wrong I think Zeref turned you back into your early twenties; twenty-two or even my own age." Gray joked as she crossed her arms at his joke, however she had to admit that he wasn't off the mark. She went to see doctors for the first few months ever since her youth returned and was unsure if this was really happening to her or it would fade in time and the aging process would speed up, but it turned out that she was a perfectly healthy twenty-three year old woman. Surprising actually, since at this point in time she should be at least thirty-one

"Shut up..." Ultear said as she stepped closer to the ice mage and did one of the most out of character acts in her life, she hugged the taller raven haired man with a small smile on her face. "And thank you." Even if he wore a chestplate, she still hugged him and she was unsure what it was doing to Meredy on the other side, but she didn't think it was doing any harm.

Ultear was ever so wrong as one uncalled for emotion was brewing itself within Meredy due to the sensory link and she couldn't believe Ur was feeling that way for Zero at all, how could she if she barely met the guy that morning. It felt so odd feeling this, for lack of better words, fuzziness and warmth radiating off of Ultear as if she was developing some sort of attraction towards the man she was speaking to in the inside of the blizzard. The pink haired young woman hoped that she was wrong else everything Sorano was joking about earlier may become a reality and she wouldn't know how to deal with the fact that her pseudo-mother was developing a crush on one of the most powerful mages they have met in recent years. Sure she wanted Ur to find someone for herself, but to think it could come down to meeting the mage that has even Erza worried was beyond her imagination and hoped that maybe it was a fluke or something minor. She couldn't delve into her thoughts any deeper as the blizzard vortex spontaneously vanished and there stood Zero and Ultear at the same distance the rest of Crime Sorciere had last seen them.

"This is where we part ways Crime Sorciere, hope you guys enjoyed your stay here in Isvan." Zero said as we began to walk off in the direction they were originally going in as he gave them a simple wave of his hand good bye.

"Yeah don't worry about us, we know where to go from here." Sorano said, even though she wished a little too late that she phrased it so it didn't sound sarcastic.

"Oh before I forget..." Zero stopped in his step as he gave a side glance, his face still hidden by the shadow of his hood. "If you hurt the next guild master in any way, Blue, I'll show you true hell."

Many of them knew that Zero can follow up his claim and not many people could dare to threaten Jellal in person with Crime Sorciere present with him as well, but they all had the same feeling that he wasn't joking. It only further served to send a chill down Racer's spine and also Meredy's as the tone of his voice held no signs of joking whatsoever, with the only exception of her holding strong being that Ultear didn't seem phased by it. In truth the time mage understood where Gray was coming from as he was as equally determined to protect the scarlet haired woman as any of her guild mates, more so when it came to Jellal as he was responsible for the pain she suffered a young girl. It was something she picked up when talking with Gray all those years ago during his break at the Games and found it to be the reason as to why he's not very fond of the blue haired man. His threat spoke truth and that is why they needed to be careful, he may no longer be a member of Fairy Tail, but he sure will protect them if he still were.


	8. News For The Homefront

News For The Homefront

Erza was a patient woman and fully understood that information had to take some time to get to her, especially if it came from a guild made up of criminals. Although there was a limit to how long she'd wait before minor thoughts of what could have happened to them would flood her mind. She had faith in Crime Sorciere's abilities and knew they could take care of themselves, but it only stood to reason that the requip mage fussed about her crush's wellbeing. Oddly enough some part of Erza had the strangest sensation that there was always a barrier between her and Jellal, but it acted as a voice of weariness that watched over her instead of hamper whatever advances they made in their relationship. Although that voice had yet to make a sound in years and her status of being single had become very obvious to her due to the entire ordeal with trying to explain herself to Yuki once she asked why amongst the other adults in the guild, she was the only single person there.

Most of her friends that she had grown up with have already paired off with others they came across, even coming together with other guildmates and she would've remarked that Lucy wasn't in one either, but she was in fact dating these past years. Of course most of the men she's dated have never gone any further than first base with the blonde as she would answer with the exact same reply of "there wasn't anything there and we drifted apart" once they've broken up, which the scarlet head couldn't deny as being untrue since somewhere down the line their relationship would stagger and Lucy would end it in a peaceful manner. The blonde was a free spirit that required someone with a much stronger weight to tie her down, but that's what made her Fairy Tail's very own Lucy Heartfilia. Although it didn't help the fact that Erza has never dated in her past save for a few interactions here and there, but she couldn't really count those as having a romantic relationship. At least Yuki was understanding and had expressed that Erza was a duty bound person who puts the needs of others before her own; the requip mage was still amazed at how mature she was for her age yet she didn't know that the little girl asked the same question towards her master and answered in that manner to her. Yuki saw something similar in both of them so she assumed that it was just for the same reason why they were both single.

That still didn't mean Erza wasn't feeling slightly embarassed to be single at her age and was directly told so by an eleven year old, but it's something she could get over as her rendezvous with Jellal were somewhat like dates aside from them needing to be away from the public for obvious reasons. That's how Erza's train of thought occupied her time for the next half hour going back and fourth of whether the matter was truly important or if this was a little offsetting seeing how things were changing around her until her Lacriphone began to buzz in her pocket. She couldn't thank Warren enough for the contraption that has allowed her to communicate with certain people easily without all the hassle of using a communication lacrima, but he was still in the stages of getting it patented before they were shipped out into the world so only a handful of people had these devices and Erza somehow was in possession of two of them.

"This is Red" She answered making sure some of her guildmates weren't looking her way, casually stepping out of the guild so to not attract attention from everyone else. "I'm on my way." Erza later replied as she heard Jellal's voice on the other end telling her that they've already arrived and were waiting at the usual meeting place. _**"Hopefully they've got some good news.**_ _ **"**_

* * *

Jellal's group waited patiently for Fairy Tail's next guild master to arrive, but he could feel the air around him being so heavily thick that he'd most likely choke if he wasn't careful and the culprits being the pseudo mother, daughter combo as they had plenty to talk about on their way here from Isvan. The blue haired man could not understand why Meredy was making such a fuss over the feelings Ultear expressed through the link when in fact they could've been just minor things since Ultear is now physically as old as her which should make it common place to feel such things. Of course this was Ultear they were talking about and all other thoughts of how incorrect he was flew out the window since he didn't want to be a part in this odd dilemma at all, yet it didn't stop Sorano from getting in on what was going on. Honestly, all three of them were basically the same age to which romance was a blooming aspect of their lives or so he read about in his spare time, but then again he couldn't have a say in the manner as he wasn't a woman and for the fact that his entire guild claims him to be "as dense as a rock" for a good portion of the time they've been together.

"Just let it be Pinky, it was just a random spike in her emotional patterns." Cobra said as he began adjusting his cloak, the thing tended to slip from his shoulders when he wasn't wearing the hood. "You never know, it may actually be that time of the mon-" The dragon slayer didn't finish as a shard of ice implanted itself deeply into the trunk of the tree he was next to, deciding it was best for him to keep his mouth shut for the meantime.

"Aside from a certain someone's tactless comment, could you at least tell me how he looks? You've kept shut since we left Isvan and the only one you talked to was Jellal and Meredy." Sorano said as she was in fact bugging the time mage for details for sometime now, clearly wanting to know why the dark haired woman reacted the way she did based on Meredy's expressions.

"If you really want to know then I'll tell you, if it'll stop you from continuously asking me about it." Ultear replied with a huff, receiving an enthusiastic nod from the white haired woman. "He was average in looks without many redeeming features and heavily scarred that it would be impossible for a woman to want to be with him."

There wasn't a person who didn't believe in what Ultear said amongst all the members of Crime Sorciere and they easily took her words for truth, so if she said the guy looked terrible, then they believed her although one person could tell that was one big lie. Meredy could tell her mother was lying, she's been around her for so long that the effects of her silver tongue hardly had an effect on her especially since she's learned the minor quirks the dark haired woman has when she lies. Ultear tends to get a small crease near the corner of her eyes when she feels satisfied that her lie was bought and tries her best to keep a neutral face when in fact she suppresses the small smirk forming at the edge of her mouth. These things were Meredy's indicators and Ultear was doing both of them, so it stands to reason that Absolute Zero is not as ugly as she made him out to be. It's one of the reasons the sensory mage was doing everything in her power to get her mother to talk, she felt it as her duty to know what man made her mother feel so warm and fuzzy. It was just weird.

"Then you've got some really bad taste in men. It's too bad, I thought I would be able to get myself a new boy toy although getting him in the first place was gonna be tricky." Sorano replied in a fake dejected voice and went off to occupy her time in some other way.

As for Ultear, she was glad Sorano bought her lie so easily since she wasn't about to recount all of Gray's features to the angel mage since it was highly likely that the white haired woman would set her eyes on him. Of course when the time mage discovered that she was linked to Meredy and her emotions ran rampant out to the other, the time mage was more than internally flustered by the fact that she showed such weakness within her and down right refused to speak to anyone of the events that transpired between her and Gray(to them he was Zero). She had an image to uphold and thinking about unnecessary thoughts would cause it to crumble away and then there came the conversation with Sorano of how she should look for a man to call her own; her of all people needed to look for a significant other? Not in any chance as she was revered as Ultear the cold Ice Queen who had single handedly destroyed countless of lives and had even managed to manipulate Jellal to her own whims, but now that she thought about it, she couldn't use that excuse anymore.

According to Gray, that life she lead was all for the purpose of a selfish dream that lead her down a dark path that he managed to pull her back into the light and of course the time mage was doing everything in her power to repent for her sins. In essence, he made it out that her past life had ended when she gave it all up so that the entire situation with the dragons would be resolved and the life she lead now was the second chance she had at it. This was her chance at starting over with a blank slate and although her memories of her past would still haunt her, she no longer held the title of Ice Queen but of Ultear the time mage of Crime Sorciere. Maybe it was time for her to start on her new life and change her past self to the new one and begin with the things she never thought possible or found them too demeaning to even do.

Needless to say that Ultear shook her head vigorously at the upcoming thoughts that began forming some sort of concrete relationship with Gray as he now become a recluse like her and was avoiding all sorts of attention with hiding away from the public eye being his main strategy. How could she think this way after meeting him nearly five years since the fight with the dragons, it didn't help that so many things that used to be barriers she hid behind to avoid forming any sense of a bond with the ice mage have all disappeared. Luckily a certain pink haired mage was eyeing her curiously so she no longer needed to be left with her thoughts for much longer and had to deal with the easily readable "You've got to explain yourself" look on her face.

"Is there something on your mind Meredy?" Ultear asked as she put up her natural calm front, casually looking past her to see if Erza had arrived yet. "You've been giving me that look ever since we got on the boat back to the mainland."

"Well yes actually, I've been wondering when my mother decided to be interested in men. I'm not saying you can't, but it's just so sudden." Meredy truly had no idea where she was going with the conversation, but it didn't stop her from asking the more serious questions she had.

"And why, pray tell, are you worrying about such a trivial matter?" Ultear raised her eyebrow in question and the pinkette was beginning to shrink under her gaze.

"It's just that, you know, it's not like you to be this way. Plus it was to **that** guy no less and I've never felt so terrified by someone in such a long time."

"I can assure you that I am perfectly capable of handling my life just fine and I promise that I'll keep it going for many years to come." Ultear replied as she gave a warm smile to the overly worried girl, although the time mage couldn't deny that her worries were not misplaced for even she didn't know how to deal with her current situation. "Now enough of this subject alright, our contact is here and we've got plenty to talk to her about.

Before Meredy could say anything else, Ultear stepped past her to stand next to Jellal as the scarlet haired mage made her way towards them and the rest of Crime Sorciere fell in line to what they usually do when she came by. Somehow the pinkette believed that the raven haired woman dodged her with Erza's arrival and a part of her should have seen it coming since Ultear was always one to make calculative moves when dealing with almost everyone she came across, however there would be a time when they could discuss this whole thing thoroughly just between them both. So for now she had to settle with retellings and actual news that had popped up during the search that should serve as a warning for Erza and her guild, but she was sure Jellal would get to that soon.

"I'm glad to see all of you still standing." Erza said giving everyone a once over although she did catch a click of Cobra's tongue after her comment. "Something the matter Eric?" She could tell how he slightly flinched and scowled her way, knowing that the dragon slayer didn't like to be called by his true first name.

"If you really want to know, it was by the skin of our teeth that we even managed to get out with our lives." Cobra replied as she gave him a curious look and turned to Jellal for confirmation, the blue haired man merely sighed before pinching the bridge of his nose.

"It's no exaggeration, we've located Absolute Zero and if it weren't for him we wouldn't have made it out of Isvan alive. More so for Ultear as she was the closest of finding herself on the wrong end of a demon's claw." Jellal said and Erza was drawn by the fact that the entire guild was saved by one man, but then again she understood the dangers of facing off against a demon and she knew all to well that amongst them all the blue haired man and Ultear would've been the only survivors.

Jellal began recounting the things that Zero was capable of doing with the simplest of ease, from what he had done in the forest to point of him single handedly defeating a demon of catastrophe. He explained that he had a just cause as they were witnesses to the true horrors those demons are capable of and had informed Erza that Zero made it out that this wasn't the first time he had dealt with that kind of situation. Erza on the other hand was expecting the feats Zero was able to do in that single encounter and it brought to light that many of Yuki's stories of the jobs she'd gone with him were much more intense than what she lead on if it was anything like Crime Sorciere's, but that meant that she still had to be weary for the young ice mage's safety if a man like him has managed to make enemies out of demons. Still, it meant that if trouble were to come then there was the possibility that her master may actually come to her aid himself if it was too much for her alone; this was all assumption since she was unsure if all masters were thoughtful enough to protect their pupils.

The tattooed man had finished retelling her most of the more standing points of the event although he did leave out the part in which he was threatened by him if he ever did harm to her. He personally would've marked that as a baseless threat to intimidate him, but he couldn't get a reading of a simple tactic or truth from him and Cobra himself heard only truth spoken when he made his threat. From there Sorano took to speaking to her on how his power literally shook them since it got Racer nervous just walking through the woods every time it spiked when he battled something until it rippled off of him in waves when fighting the demon. What actually caught her interest was the demon he killed before the giant one was summoned, she heard of an ability like that from Natsu when he was fighting one of the Demon Gates, but the name escaped her until Racer messed up the name saying Panmoth and it clicked in her mind that he meant Franmalth.

If she remembered correctly, he was the last surviving member of Tartaros and was their guide for the location of the main control room before Face was activated but she lost track of him during her melee with Kyouka. It was actually a breath of relief that the remnants of that dreaded guild have all been defeated and it gave the requip mage a piece of mind knowing that any loose end that could potentially bring harm to Fairy Tail was taken care of for them.

Aside from that there wasn't anything else they had to report to her and it served well enough to decide that she no longer needed their services to keep track of Yuki's master anymore, but she still felt like something was calling out to her to meet Zero in person although she was willing it away since this would be her final decision on the matter. Once Erza was comfortable with all the information she had received, she was about to dismiss them but Jellal had told her to wait a moment before pulling Ultear aside to discuss something she could only guess as important and the scarlet haired woman was left with the rest of Crime Sorciere. Amongst all of them, Meredy had caught her eye as the pinkette stared after the dark haired woman with a questioning gaze and it was actually the first time she's seen her like that.

"What's wrong Meredy, I've never seen such a look on your face before especially towards Ultear." Erza asked as the sensory mage turned to look at her before waving it off with an awkward smile plastered on her face.

"Oh it's really nothing Erza, I've just been thinking things over is all." Meredy replied, believing that she managed to dodge answering her although a certain dragon slayer and slowing magic user weren't going to let her get off so easily.

"Don't let the girl fool you, she's being protective of her mother." Cobra spoke up, slyly smirking towards the pinkette as Erza turned her attention towards him and Racer had decided to stand nearby the dragon slayer as he spoke up next.

"He's right, our own Ice Queen might've found a new heart throb in Zero." It took all his might and Cobra's as well to make sure their laughter was only centered to themselves so Ultear wouldn't hear them.

"Well that is surprising, I never thought of her fawning over someone before. She struck me more as an independent woman, capable of controlling this guild right alongside Jellal." The requip mage commented and a loud huff diverted her attention back to Meredy as she had her arms crossed, slightly pouting with all the talk about her mother and how their views were.

"Because that's who she is, Ur doesn't need anyone else aside from me and the guild. Why won't you guys understand that?" In her honest opinion, Erza had found her complaining rather cute in a similar way Kagura would complain about embarrassing matters and wanted to hug her like an elder sister would. "It's not that I'm not happy for her, it's just why did it have to be Zero? I wouldn't have minded if she picked Jellal." She said in a more of a whisper to herself, but Erza had caught on and stiffened slightly when she mentioned Jellal's name.

"I don't believe you need to worry so much about Zero, Meredy. He did have an apprentice and she is doing just fine in our guild, plus she's already spoken about the adventures she's gone on with him so if something does go between him and Ultear then there's nothing to fret over." Erza chimed in as Yuki has made it so very clear that Zero is a very nice person, so long as you don't anger him or hurt the people he cares about that is.

"But still, shouldn't she at least talk to me about it. I mean she's like a mother to me and it would be nice to have her confide on girlish topics like that once in awhile." Meredy slightly pouted since to her it seemed that everyone was too busy to fully connect to.

Cobra and Racer were busy with their bromance, Midnight is straight creepy most of the time with his attitude making him unapproachable and Hoteye had his mind set on finding his younger brother even after getting some general direction from that cat girl in Mermaid Heel. That left Jellal and Sorano, with the blue haired man being an older brother type to her who's always looking out for her, but couldn't relate too closely as he was still being weighed down by guilt and Sorano being close to an elder sister, but even then they couldn't connect much since the angel mage tries to find time to see her real younger sister Yukino in Sabertooth. The pinkette would know since Crime Sorciere did everything they could to attend the other white haired woman's wedding to her guild master, Sting is what he was called if Meredy wasn't mistaken, and it was pretty simple after being invited to a couple others in the past for those in Fairy Tail that were getting married.

"You're just too cute to pout like that," Erza said as she gave the pinkette one of her signature hugs which pushed a lot of the air out of her lungs and bashed her head against the woman's breast plate, "just give it time and Ultear will come clean to you in no time."

"I can always count on you to help lift my spirits," Meredy wheezed out as she was still being cut off from her air supply, "but could you please let me go Erza, I need to breath." The requip mage immediately released her grip on her and apologized for her actions, even if the sensory mage was merely laughing it off.

Amongst all that she'd been through during her years on the run, it was thanks to Erza and everyone in Fairy Tail that Meredy felt a form of comfort that there was a place filled with warm people she could always turn to aside from everyone in Crime Sorciere. It never really passed her mind recently until now that her "People to Kill" list was comprised of members of Fairy Tail as the second person on the list was the current guild master Makarov and the first was the ice mage Gray Fullbuster... _**"Wait that's not right."**_ Meredy went deep into thought about that name and she instantly recognized the face, the magic type, age, birthplace and, and current status as an S-class hopeful for Fairy Tail! Something's not right, she knew this information not only by memory, but by heart as well since there hasn't been a time where she's remembered something so clearly before and this information is nearly twelve or more years old.

That couldn't be right though as her memory clearly sees a young man that is Gray Fullbuster, but he should have been as old as Jellal on the night he died so why was it that he looked so young? Erza never mentioned having an ice mage aside from their current one in her guild that joined recently and he was her main target for years, so why was it that she knew he was an S-class hopeful all those years ago? She had to be wrong, she must have confused information up or so she'd like to believe, but if there was a thing she was proud of besides Ultear it would be her ways of remembering crucial information which means that the number one person she was out to kill was a Fairy Tail mage. Gray Fullbuster was a Fairy Tail member, long enough that he had proven himself to be S-class material during their exams in x784 which, if her deduction was correct, he was Fairy Tail's ice mage but Erza has claimed to have never seen him before in her life. If that's the case then she couldn't rule out the possibility that information regarding the man was omitted or even erased and now that he's dead the information about him must have been allowed to leak with Erza taking up the case of who that man was.

"Erza I think Gr-"

"Sorry to keep you all waiting, Ultear and I were discussing whether our assumptions were correct and have come to the conclusion that Erza should know about them." Jellal said as he made his way back towards the requip mage with the time mage following close behind him.

"I'm sorry Meredy you can tell me later, for now I'd like to hear what you have to say." Erza replied as she stood up from her spot next to Meredy, watching as Ultear came forward to speak next.

"During our time in Isvan, we've intercepted a number of dark mage related movements there and have become suspicious of their actions. We believe that something major is about to occur, but are not sure if they plan to make a move against Isvan's king or the other possible target we think they have in mind." Ultear said and wasn't surprised by the questioning stare the scarlet haired woman was giving her as she mentioned the second target.

"Erza the second target Ultear is hinting at is your very own guild, we've got underhanded words that a large force of these mages are stationed in Isvan and are preparing some sort of large scale attack; however, we do not know where they are stationed or if they truly are based in that country. Ultear and I believe that you should at least be informed about the situation if something were to occur." Jellal said in turn and Erza gave him a sincere smile as a way of thanks for looking after the well being of her guild and he felt the rush of blood go to his cheeks as they began to heat up.

"I thank you for providing this information to me and if you wouldn't mind continuing your search for more information regarding this matter it would be very appreciated. I'd also thank you for looking into Absolute Zero and apologize for endangering your lives, but you no longer need to look into him anymore." Erza replied and Jellal numbly nodded his head while the rest of Crime Sorciere rolled their eyes at how attached their blue haired leader was to the requip mage. "And should the worst come, I hope to see you all fight at our side once again." The armored woman was not disappointed once she saw the agreeing nods, smirks and smiles that came from each of the members of the independent guild.

"We'll keep you updated." Ultear said as a melody began to play out of nowhere, something she could only describe as cutesy before Erza hastily searched her skirt pockets before pulling out the Lacriphone that was ringing.

"This is Red" Erza answered as the others looked at her as she spoke to who ever was on the other line, her expression turning to one of understanding before it morphed to exhaustion, "I'll be there very soon, keep him under wraps until I get there."

"Trouble at home?" Racer asked as the armored woman crossed her arms and let out a small sigh.

"It seems that Magnolia will be undergoing the Gildarts Shift as he was spotted a few miles out from the town and Natsu's becoming over excited to fight him. I have to put the reins on him before they both stupidly destroy the town fighting each other." Erza said as she waved goodbye to them, turning to face the town before she ran off calling back towards Crime Sorciere. "Good luck to all of you and you can tell me whatever you wanted to say on a later date Meredy!"

Meredy looked on as the scarlet haired woman began to disappear from their sight as she was growing smaller and smaller with each passing moment and inwardly sighed that the information she wanted to share with her had to be held back until their next meeting. Although it didn't help that it was very sensitive information that could shed light on the person Erza was searching for and feared that Gray Fullbuster may have met with an end far worse than his death against the dragons. Maybe she could speak to Ultear, she was the person to recognize Gray just as fast as she did and might have actually known him on a personal level, so there was a chance that the dark haired woman could help her understand what was going on.

"What was that last bit about?" Speak of the woman, Ultear stood beside Meredy with her questioning gaze falling on the conflicted look on the pinkette's face.

"Don't worry Ur I'll tell you about it later." She replied, but a part of her was nervous of what kind of effect it will have on the time mage once she told her everything she knew. _**"Please don't let this be as bad as I'm making it out to be."**_


	9. The Ace of Fairy Tail Returns

The Ace of Fairy Tail Returns

Yuki was thoroughly surprised with all the commotion the guild was causing and they weren't even brawling each other, more like getting ready to celebrate an event of some sort. People running back and forth as they moved furniture in a cleared path and she noticed how the pink haired dragon slayer was more giddy than usual when staring down the guild doors. She wanted to ask questions of what was going on, but everyone was too busy to stop and answer her until Lucy came by as she put some sort of device into her pocket.

"What's going on? What is everyone so excited for?" The young brunette asked to the celestial mage who smiled to her in return and led her to the doors.

"Fairy Tail's ace is coming home pretty soon. It's been years since we last saw him so everyone's happy to know he'll be here." Lucy replied as she opened the doors to lookout at the city while Yuki was unsure of what they were supposed to look at until she heard the sound of bells followed by gears turning loudly in the city. "Now you'll see the Gildarts Shift."

The young ice mage was confused by the name, but she didn't get time to question it as the city began to rise right before her eyes. Blocks upon city blocks began to elevate to higher ground with some even moving over to another area as a straight road was formed from Fairy Tail all the way to the main city entrance. She had seen plenty of mechanisms in her travels with her master, but she had never seen one that was as huge as a city especially if this was all made for one person.

In the distance she could make out the shine of a Erza's armor as she made her way towards the guild and the young ice mage could tell she was in a light jog by the way her scarlet hair swayed from left to right. Lucy waved towards her since she was the one who had called her back to the guild and Yuki wished to know if they'd tell her a little more about this Gildarts Shift and the man it was named after. Luckily she made her curiosity very obvious as Erza regarded her with a smile as she too looked out onto the shifted city alongside her and the blonde.

"Amazing isn't it? This intricate city system was established years before I even joined the guild, dating back about thirty-eight years ago once Gildarts Clive had earned the rank of S-class mage." Erza gave the young ice mage a bit of Magnolia's history and felt rather pleased that her curiosity had been quenched with the given information.

"So he's that powerful that the city's safety had to be taken into account whenever he'd return?" Yuki asked as both women gave awkward chuckles to her question with Erza answering her with a sigh.

"Yes, but it was also because he's rather...clumsy." Erza could tell that whatever high standing she might have thought to put Gildarts on was slightly shaken at the revelation if Yuki's look was any indication.

"Oh..." That's all she had to say for Erza to believe that Yuki's opinion was only going to be swayed once she met the man in person.

"In any case, it's a good thing you made it in time Erza. Who knows what would have happened if Gildarts got here before you did." Lucy said as they began to walk back into the guild and Erza was rather glad she was here first given the distance she had come from.

"Why? Does something go wrong if Erza isn't around when Gildarts comes home?" The brunette understood that the scarlet haired woman was going to be the next guild master, but does the guild really fall apart is she isn't around?

"Things don't go drastically wrong, more like Erza has to make sure Natsu doesn't go into a full out brawl with him." Lucy began to explain if she trusted the stories the dragon slayer had told when he was off training. "It's one thing having a destructive force around, but it's a rather bad idea having two of them fighting each other in an enclosed space like the guild."

"Understandable, that pink haired flame brain causes enough damage on his own as it is so there's no reason to add anymore fuel to that flame." That was Yuki's basic understanding of the dragon slayer, but her observations were quite different when she referred to other sources about his demeanor.

Getting to the know the mage was an endeavor in itself as he was always the type to charge in and ask questions later with an attitude of caring over his guildmates' wellbeing, as she was told from the other members. He'd fight to the end if it meant that Fairy Tail came out on top and his friends got to live their lives, which she had actually found very admirable in a person although it made her think back on her master. He was similar to the dragon slayer in the way he'd do everything in his power to protect what he cared about and made sure that there would be a tomorrow to walk to, but therein lies the difference. Her master walked a lonely path with no real goal in sight, while Natsu lived for his guild and everyone in it.

She wandered around in her thoughts as she began to realize that guild life was vastly different compared to living with her master. There was always something new to experience, whether a weird confrontation about a subject or just defending against flying guild mates and furniture, there was something always happening. It still didn't mean she thought less of her time with Zero, rather she viewed it in a much warmer light as he became the father she always wanted.

 _"Don't do this to yourself, not now! Don't think about that past life before meeting Master!"_ Yuki mentally berated as she wasn't about to let her mood sour at this point and was brought back to the current event as everybody began to cheer all of a sudden around her.

The young ice mage was confused by the sudden burst of volume until she took a look at the guild doors and noticed a bearded, orange haired man smiling towards everyone and waving to those who were far away from him. He stood as the tallest one there aside from Elfman and his metallic arm had actually drawn her attention as she was positive it was a prosthetic instead of armored, but she in turn had actually gained his interest. She watched as the older man gave her an incredulous look as he strode his way over to her, surprising a few of their guildmates as the young brunette took all his attention instead of the yelling pink haired slayer calling him out for a fight. Once he reached her, he bent his knees to be at her level and looked at her with astonishment.

"C-Cana is that you?! What happened to my little girl?! You're a little girl again!" Gildarts couldn't believe that his twenty-four year old daughter turned back into a twelve(?) year old girl. What had happened while he was gone was truly the question he had on his mind.

"Is your eyesight already failing you old man!? I'm over here!" Cana called out from her spot at the bar counter with her arms crossed, slightly bothered that her own father confused her with a little girl he hasn't met before.

Gildarts looked up at the brunette's voice and immediately recognized her once his eyes landed on her amethyst ones, but when he looked down at the little girl's hazel ones he could feel slight traces of magic lingering about. Now that got him curious as to why he could feel those traces there, but her magic didn't feel as if she was a user of any type of eye magic. He chuckled nervously as he realized that he had been staring at the young one to make her a little uncomfortable and wished to have a do over at his first introduction to this new member.

"Sorry about that, you just reminded me of my daughter at that age." Gildarts stood up back at his full height and could hear his daughter's claim of sitting nearby, but he let it fly over him as he pointed a thumb to himself. "I'm Gildarts Clive, pleased to meetcha."

"Likewise Mr. Clive, my name is Yuki Mizuno; Fairy Tail's new ice maker mage." The little girl introduced herself and the crash mage was actually surprised to hear that the guild had another ice mage.

"Well it's nice to know that there are two of you now, a couple of our people here use fire magic and the ratio was something like thirteen to one so it's good we are slowly diversing into its polar opposite." Gildarts spoke happily although he didn't catch the confused stares directed to his claim, not to mention some of the embarrassed looks from a few guildmates that dealt with fire magic. "And just call me Gildarts, everyone does and you should too."

"Very well and if I may ask, could you call me by first name? I am not very fond of people calling me kid." She asked and the older man gave a hearty chuckle at her, since it was the first time someone's ever asked him to refer to them by name instead of nickname.

 _"I can't believe Gray actually got himself an apprentice, hopefully she didn't pick up his weird habit."_ The orange haired man thought to himself as he searched around him for the dark haired and shirtless young man as he was pretty easy to spot, but he couldn't find him anywhere. "By the way where's your master, Gra-"

"I'm afraid my master isn't here, I was brought alongside Master Makarov." Yuki interrupted him and that made him raise a curious eyebrow down to her. "Actually, if you wouldn't mind can you please accompany me to see the Master?"

"Sure?" He answered slowly, although he wished to get a cold mug of beer beforehand, but he would eventually have to see the old man so the sooner the better.

Curious eyes followed the pair up to the Master's office as it was actually the first time Yuki looked rather worried in front of a person. Erza wished to follow along if it had something concerning the young ice mage, but she had to make sure Natsu didn't surprise Gildarts with one of his flaming fists before he would get launched into the ceiling again. Though she did find it slightly amusing that the older man's forgetfulness became pretty apparent if he confused Yuki for Cana, especially for the fact that the card mage was at least twelve years older than her. Still her own thoughts remained about the sudden necessity for the two to visit the Master, but her thoughts couldn't linger about it anymore as Yuki came back down alone.

The young ice mage's face looked rather relieved now that the orange haired crash mage was with the aging master, but Erza found it odd for her to be like that if she barely learned about Gildarts not thirty minutes ago. In the end she just sat with her team and kept a close eye on the little brunette as she talked with Asuka, glancing every now and then towards the stairs leading to the Master's office. Just like that, everything went back to normal and Natsu had finally settled down from his wanting to fight with Gildarts until she felt it.

At first Erza could feel the slight rise in someone's magical energy rise little by little, until it exploded to tremendous levels and she was sure everyone felt it too. The distinct signature all told them that it belonged to Gildarts, all coming to the conclusion that something had made him angry and no later did they hear the muffled yelling coming from Makarov's office as the energy had yet to subside. The scarlet haired woman became worried of what was happening and was about to make her way up the stairs when just like water poured over a flame, Gildarts' magical energy snuffed itself out.

It was so sudden, but she knew that something had calmed down the raging crash mage in time and she debated whether or not she should continue climbing the stairs or go back to her table. Erza chose the latter although she still kept her focus to the stairs awaiting for either Makarov or Gildarts to come down first and she was quite surprised to see the look on the orange haired man's face. He was exasperated, like he was told something that blew his mind and he kept that expression all the way to the bar counter as he ordered his drink. Erza had noticed the slight glances he gave in Yuki's direction and the requip mage had the feeling that the Master told him something about her, most likely that her master was Absolute Zero and the like.

What Erza was not aware of is that Gildarts had been reacting to a whole different subject entirely, although it still had to do something with the young brunette. There was no doubt in him, not after looking into her eyes again when she was with him and the Makarov but he just couldn't really believe it was true.

* * *

 _~A few minutes ago~_

Gildarts was following behind Yuki as she walked ahead of him, his mind still trying to process why she looked so much like Cana at first glance and where was Gray? The young man was always a barrel of grumpiness and the crash mage wanted to say a few words to him about having an apprentice. When he first heard that she was a new ice maker mage, Gildarts immediately thought about Gray then followed by an old memory of his master Ur and he couldn't help but think that he was following in her footsteps.

In their brief interaction with each other he saw the look of a woman who's lost her way in life but as she watched those kids go home after she rescued them, the orange haired man could tell she wanted a new destiny to follow. He could tell that if she ever found someone to teach, she'd do everything in her power to make sure she did her best to take care of them and that's where Gray was similar to her. When he first met him as a bit of a snotty brat, he also saw the look of a young boy lost in a world he didn't fully understand besides the fact that it was filled with pain and sadness. So seeing as this little one was being taught the same magic type as him, especially for the fact that he was just one of only two wielders of that magic, Gildarts believed that he found a new purpose aside from protecting his family in Fairy Tail.

Sure their bond didn't run as deep like the one between himself and Natsu, but the crash mage did feel like his words would bring a sense of comfort to the ice mage knowing that he would've made Ur proud more so than what he's already accomplished. The orange haired man also had a sense of pride knowing that the snobbish brat he helped lead to Fairy Tail had grown up and has become one of the first to take on an apprentice that wasn't his own kid. He would've liked to talk to the young ice mage about her training with Gray, but she was already knocking on the Master's office door and walked inside when he gave a muffled reply to come in.

The orange haired man followed in after her and for a moment he could've sworn he saw her eyes slightly droop and change color. He tried his best not to stare at the little ice mage and focus on the master, but he couldn't help but think his own eyes were really going bad as they still hadn't changed back before Makarov had said she was free to leave. That's when they finally went back to normal and her eye color was back to the darker shade of hazel he first saw when she introduced herself.

"It's good to see you back home Gildarts." Makarov began, gaining the taller man's attention away from the door Yuki had closed behind her as she left, "But it seems to me you were about to say something outloud in the guild if Yuki had to bring you to me."

"Yeah...I was about to ask Yuki where Gray was, it's not hard to tell who her master is if she's an ice maker mage." Gildarts replied, taking a seat in front of Makarov's desk as he noticed that the First Master was also in the room along with Mest. "A little meeting going on here or something?"

"We were discussing some guild business that needed our attention, but nothing very important." Makarov replied as he went back to stand on his desk as Gildarts gave a lazy nod to his answer, looking expectantly at the old man. "Is there something I need to further explain?"

"Not about the guild stuff, no but where Gray is. I want to congratulate him on becoming a teacher for a new generation." It didn't escape Gildarts' eyes when he noticed the downcasted gaze Mavis had and the slight stiffness of Mest who had decided to clean up the office a little bit.

"I'm afraid Gray isn't with us." Makarov shortly replied although he fully knew it wouldn't be enough for Gildarts.

"Oh? Where is he, did he go out of the country for a bit or is he on a job?" Gildarts didn't like such a vague answer and he knew it was a little late in the year for him to be visiting his old hometown to pay his respects.

"What Makarov is trying to say is that Gray Fullbuster is no longer a mage of Fairy Tail." Mavis spoke up on the aging master's behalf and he expected the look of astonishment the orange haired man had about the news.

"What do you mean!? Did he quit the guild while I was away?" Gildarts knew that the last time he saw Gray was during the battle against Alvarez for the final push to Fairy Tail, but he was positive the ice mage was pining with everything he got to get his guild back. "I know I sort of left a few days after the battle was won and this is my first visit in four years, but there's no way he'd quit this guild."

"You're right, Gray didn't quit the guild." Makarov spoke up, but the crash mage didn't think his worries were over just yet. "Gray was banished from Fairy Tail."

"Banished!?" This time Gildarts stood from his seat at how absurd he found the word used for someone like Gray. "When did he get banished!?"

"Four years ago, after the war with Alvarez was over." Mavis said and she could see how the tall man couldn't believe what he heard, but it didn't surprise her when he slammed his hands on the desk.

"Pardon my words First Master, but bullshit!" Gildarts couldn't believe that the last time he saw Gray as a member of Fairy Tail he was banished without his knowledge, even he was told when Laxus was banished. "Why haven't I been told anything for all these years!? You all send me the good news of the kids getting married and though I can't make it I send the best of wishes for them, but you didn't bother to tell me Gray was banished when I was actually there!"

"Please calm down Gildarts." Mest said defensively, but he stopped trying to make a move when the crash mage sent him a deadly glare.

"You stay out of this, this is between me and the masters." He then moved his glare towards Makarov as the old man merely sighed to himself tiredly. "What did he do to deserve the ultimate punishment of our guild?"

"He endangered everyone's lives when he sided with Zeref to secure his revenge." He answered sternly although he could still feel Gildarts' temper raging at his claim.

"There's no way Gray would do something like that, he wouldn't stoop so low as to side with Zeref out of some sort of personal vendetta!" The orange haired man knew that better than anyone that the last thing the ice mage wanted was to seek out revenge if it would only serve to hurt the people he cared about.

"Sadly it is the truth, he told me so himself." Mavis took the moment to stand in front of the angered S-class mage as he towered over her small form. "He admitted to the act of assisting Zeref in stopping all of his enemies to acquire his chance at being the one to destroy his greatest demon, E.N.D."

"The First wouldn't lie about this Gildarts and you must understand that we all came to an agreement for his punishment." Makarov wasn't sure of how much the crash mage would be willing to listen to this as even the news of Laxus' banishment had angered him greatly, but he understood the why of it all.

"That doesn't sound like something Gray would do, but if it did happen then surely the other brats would've said something about it! There's no way anybody would've easily agreed to this, Natsu is one sure fire person that'd be against it with heart along with his team." Gildarts could feel that all his attempts were coming down to him grasping at straws as their claims were becoming too sure to be false.

"They don't know about this, none of them do aside from myself, the First, Yuki, Mest and now you." Makarov could tell that this information crossed a line in Gildarts' mind as his magic energy began to flare much more strongly than before.

"So what, they think he's on some sort of vacation!? He's out on a job and needs to keep contact to a minimal for four years straight!?" It wasn't right to lie to them of what had happened to one of their dear friends and he removed his hands from the desk before he could destroy it with his magic.

"None of them know because Gray Fullbuster and everything to do with him has been wiped from their memories." Mest answered him this time and he quickly found out that it was unwise for him to speak as he was now being held up in the air by his shirt with a metal arm keeping him there.

"What did you say?" He asked deadly, his tone sending shivers down Mest's spine. "Banishing him without telling the others about it and getting rid of the fact that he ever existed goes beyond what Fairy Tail would ever do to a person!"

"Put him down Gildarts!" Makarov commanded and the crash mage begrudgingly complied as he allowed the teleportation mage to drop to the floor, but the orange haired man was far from through. "We didn't do it willingly, it was a final request Gray had made to avoid living with the guilt once they learned of his betrayal."

"And!? How could you possibly think I would be okay with this!?" His anger was flaring and the aging master could tell that the rest of his brats would be feeling it as well soon enough. "They wouldn't linger on his betrayal for long, rather they'd look back on the person he was to them!"

"These things are not what Gray would consider; pain and sorrow are the things he always thought to be his fault. I've watched over all of you for years and the way he saw his life was the saddest thing to me, as it always was a constant thought he had about himself." Mavis could tell that Gildarts' anger could be justified since he was a strong believer in her ways of running the guild and the rules she established for it, but he had to know that there are things they couldn't control about a person's life.

"Then you decided to replace him with Yuki!? I mean no ill will to the little girl, but it's not right to have everyone think she's our first ice mage!" He couldn't call her out as a fake student to Gray as she reacted to him when he was about to call out his name and he got the feeling that if he named Juvia's boyfriend as her master, she wouldn't disagree to it. "Don't you think it's wrong to keep some part of his legacy in the place that he was kicked out from!?"

"Yes I do, but he was the one to contact us to take her in." Gildarts was actually surprised at Makarov's words, he didn't think Gray would want to send his student to Fairy Tail of all places after what happened to him. "He did his best to train her and wished for her to experience what a family was compared to living with just him. Yuki needs more than just friends, she needs a family and that has more to do with you than anyone else." His words confused the orange haired man, but his magical energy and temper still hadn't simmered down so the old guild master had to pick his words carefully.

"What does it have to do with me!? She's got plenty of people around her to feel attached to and the guild's a good place as any for her to be a part of a family, heck most of the brats here are going to start their own soon!?" The crash mage wasn't against accepting the little girl as she had done nothing wrong, but knowing where the legacy she comes from would serve only to bother him as he knew the truth.

"She doesn't need someone like me, I can't even begin to feel like I've completely made it up to Cana for ignoring her for so many years as being my daughter when she was under my nose the whole time!" Cana had been estranged after he found out he was her father, but she still loved him like one even though she didn't act like it. Still, Gildarts couldn't get rid of the guilty conscious he had about not giving her a second thought every time she was the first person to say hello to him when he came back and the last face he saw when he left for his jobs ever since she was a child.

"Then take this as an opportunity to make up for it, like your second chance to right the wrong you feel has yet to be done." The first master spoke up as she took this as the perfect way of eliminating Gildarts' anger in one swoop.

"My second chance?" He repeated her word confusedly, unsure what the First was getting at.

"She needs you to be her family because you **are** her family." Mavis finally said as she helped the taller man's thought process to move along.

"She's my family?" He once again repeated her words, the peices slowly fitting into each other, but Makarov decided to finsih the puzzle for him instead as he knew it took some time for him when Cana had finally revealed to be his daughter.

"You are Yuki's grandfather, Gildarts." In that instant all the anger, confusion and magical energy around the orange haired man vanished as he plopped himself down into a chair.

The truth hit him much harder than he expected as his thoughts raced over the entire concept that the little ice mage was his granddaughter. Gildarts just couldn't believe the news, he didn't know about his daughter for eighteen years of her life and now he didn't know about his granddaughter's for about twelve years of hers. He felt overwhelmed at the idea that his sweet Cana was a mother already, but there was no point to try and make sense of it since in his memory he could never recall her having child or the person she was with at that point. Then again, he didn't know a lot about his daughter's private life as he wished to so that was a problem which was followed by the age difference between the two. So many things were buzzing in his head because of this, but one thought popped in his head when thought back on Yuki and it was about her eyes.

"Her eyes, they changed when she walked in here. Was that your doing old man?" He asked as Makarov nodded to him in confirmation.

"When I met her, the only thing I knew was that she was Gray's young student. It was only when he talked to me in private that he told me of his discovery that Yuki's biological mother was Cana." To this day, the old master couldn't believe that one of his brats was a mother long before Bisca and sure other mages had started families in his time, but they were adults already when he met them so it was a different experience when he knew them as just happy children.

"I placed an illusion spell on her that even she wasn't aware of to make sure no one would connect the dots of her having any relation to Cana." The bothered stare Gildarts had given him was enough for him to guess the question he had. "Gray was unsure of how to break the news to either of them, since Yuki was adopted at birth and had troubles growing up before she met Gray and Cana was still a wild card to him whether or not she was ready to be a mother."

"Wait you just said she was adopted, are you saying that Cana gave her up and has no idea what happened to her after that?" A part of Gildarts couldn't believe she would do that, but then again he couldn't speak about responsibility since he too has done that to her.

"I'm afraid that it's the truth, Gray said it happened when she was seventeen and this explains why Yuki's age is a little close to Cana's to be considered her daughter as she managed to age during the seven year gap, while Cana didn't." This was the best that Makarov could do for an explanation as he too didn't know much about the entire ordeal. "For now we must keep this to ourselves until we can confirm when Cana is ready to face the truth of her daughter's fate and if Yuki is prepared to discover her real mother."

"Sure...I'll get behind that." Gildarts replied as his expression had yet to change since this news was just as big as discovering about Cana. "But I am not at all happy about what's going on with Gray." This was all too much to take in at once; first he discovers that Gray's been banished for four years already and that leads him to learn that the ice mage managed to acquire his granddaughter as a student and in the end brought her back home to where she truly belongs.

"We understand how you feel, but at the moment please head back to the guild hall. I'm sure the others are aware of your little outburst earlier." Makarov knew he just brought a lot down onto the man's shoulders, but it had to come out some time. He just wished he had a little more of a warning beforehand, but maybe the bells tolling for the Gildarts Shift should've been enough of one.

"Fine, but mark my words. Yuki's going to learn about her mother and her amazing grandfather soon enough. You can count on that." With that the S-class mage stepped out of the master's office with a sturdy stride, but as soon as he was out of sight he was once again blown away by the fact that he had a granddaughter.

* * *

 _~Present time~_

Gildarts drank away his second mug already and had decided to sit next to his dear Cana this time, hoping she wouldn't just shrug him off like she usually did. Once he sat down in the stool next her, the brunette merely regarded him for a second before she turned away from him and he felt a little hurt by it although it wasn't the first time she's done it to him. This time he draped his arm over her in a fatherly way and rubbed his cheek next to hers as he cooed at her.

"Aw c'mon on Cana are you gonna ignore dear old dad?" He cooed to her although she folded her arms and gave a small 'hmph' to him in reply. "Oh what's wrong sweetheart?"

"What's wrong is that you thought a little girl was your daughter while the real thing sat just a few feet behind her." She looked annoyed, but Gildarts could tell through her voice that she was slightly hurt by his actions.

"It's okay sweetheart, my eyes are probably going bad like you said. It's just been so long since I've seen you that I thought back to the little girl who would greet me every time I came back to the guild." In all honesty, the older man had thought about that as he made his way across the country hoping to see his daughter again.

"Well can't blame age, it gets to everyone some day, but Yuki is adorable though. Makes me wonder who her mother was to look that cute." Cana said jokingly and Gildarts had the sudden idea of continuing that little conversation a little bit.

"Ever wish to be a mother yourself sweetheart, even have a kid as cute as Yuki?" The crash mage asked in his best attempt of acting casual so's to not rouse her suspicions of what he was getting at.

"Actually, I sort of do. I think it came around more so when Yuki called me her mommy this one time I was out on the job and I got into a little bit of trouble before she and her master helped me out." Cana recounted, suddenly getting the urge to sneak up behind the little ice mage and give her a bear hug. She didn't understand it, but she felt so connected to the little girl and always wanted her close by; probably her maternal instincts acting up. Erza had those at times as well, but she also had the big sister instinct as well when it concerned that sword wielding girl from Mermaid Heel.

"So you would be happy being a mother?" Gildarts asked to clarify and she gave him a nod before stalking off to enact her plan on the unsuspecting ice mage, while the crash mage gave a cheeky grin on his daughter's answer.

"You look rather happy Gildarts, everything alright now?" Mira asked as he came up to him and he gave her a nod, picking up the new mug of beer she dropped off for him.

"Sorry if you guys felt my little anger spell, I've been under a lot so at the moment I hope to get some good news." He replied as she smiled in return and clapped her hands when she thought of something that could help.

"How about I bring you a slice of cake left over from Yuki's twelfth birthday last week, her master bought it and had it delivered to us. It was very delicious, maybe it could brighten up your spirits a little more." She said and when he nodded she went off to the kitchen to get him a slice, to which there was plenty since it had been a pretty massive cake.

"Thanks Mira," He said once she returned with the plate and then left with a satisfied smile as he began to eat it. _"Cana's up for being a mother, now it's just Yuki to worry about. Hopefully she's willing to accept Cana being her true birth mother."_ He thought to himself until he heard a small squeal of surprise come from a different area of the guild and noticed how snug Yuki was in Cana's arms while she was trying to fight for her freedom.

 _"Maybe I should find that out at another time."_ He concluded as the the little ice mage's opinion would be a little biased after the recent incident with her yet to be known mother.

No one could necessarily blame the crash mage as he was so eagerly excited to dub Cana his daughter the first time around, so it was a similar case to call out Yuki as his granddaughter knowing that he had a third generation to his line. He just hoped that she'd be more attached to him than Cana was, after all most grandparents enjoy having their grandkids around them and the orange haired man used Makarov for an example to some extent. Though the question he still had was that if Cana was Yuki's mother then who was her father? Although he did have a guess to one person, there was also the possibility it was a man he wasn't familiar with that Cana had dated at some point. A big part of him hoped his guess was right because if he was wrong, he didn't want to go hunt down the man that left his poor baby girl alone with her own baby girl growing inside her.

"Just you wait Yuki, Grandpa Gildarts will make things right."


	10. A Matter of Family

**A/N:** _I know it has been awhile since my last update, but this story is a bit of a back burner I work on although it will get worked on continuously, I assure you. Like a previous chapter I uploaded, this one's dialogue heavy also just to give you great readers a head's up. Don't be shy to review if there are details I can improve on or if things aren't working well with all the dialogue, so I can do my best to give a decent chapter that will be well received. I think I've held you back long enough, so let's get on with the chapter. Enjoy!_

* * *

A Matter of Family

Gildarts was a rather patient person when it came to some things, although he tends to be notorious for flying off the handle by accident if he gives up on the whole waiting thing. So he sat at the bar counter mingling about with Mira, a few of the original guild members and met with the newer ones en mass, since they all wished to see one of Fairy Tail's greatest mages who is more often than not away on a mission. The crash mage was a bit disappointed that Yuki didn't come up to him like the others had, hoping to speak with her a little more and get to know his granddaughter better. On more than one occasion he tried to gain her attention, but she was always distracted by a random person or object flying in the air to notice him and he didn't keep it up since he was starting to get some rather curious stares his way.

A much more surreal image would pop up whenever Yuki and Cana were together as Gildarts eyes can cleanly make out the similarities in them, illusion or not. In the very sense of how they looked, they way they stood and at times the way they spoke to others mystified him on the level that he could very well see them like mother, like daughter from a mile away. It wasn't so hard to think of who Yuki's father must be (as much as the orange haired man hated the fact that his little Cana didn't have her purity), but that was all speculation as far as he knew and he really hoped he wasn't wrong. He spent a majority of the time searching the guild for possible candidates that Yuki might look like, but thankfully none of them did; even better was that the young brunette didn't have a trace of Macao in her.

He didn't have anything against the man, it was more for the fact that Cana was rather close to him for a period of time that he could only assume the possibility. Which of course he quickly exterminated with extreme prejudice from his mind and was glad that it was only for the fact that he acted like a father figure for his daughter during his absence. Sure he wasn't the best dad in the Earth Land, but it wouldn't stop him from protecting his own flesh and blood that now included the little ice mage.

As far as it came to Yuki at the moment, Gildarts couldn't believe he hadn't gained her attention as he was like legend amongst the guild, not to toot his own horn. Only the slightest of giggling from the resident barmaid/demoness had alerted him that he may have openly expressed his emotions of defeat. The orange haired man played it off, but he knew that Mira was onto him and it would only be a matter of time till she comes asking about what he was trying to do.

"Trying to express yourself Gildarts?" Mira asked just as he predicted and he simply chuckled at her in reply, but he was better off asking for help at this point since it was the first time someone wasn't trying to meet him of their own accord.

"In a way if I had to put into words, I'm trying to get Yuki's attention so I can talk to her." The crash mage replied as Mira smiled sweetly looking up at the brunette who was showing Asuka her attempt at creating the guns magic girl's favorite pistol.

"Well you aren't going to get it just by sitting there, she's not one to come up to a person just because they're famous or infamous." Mira teased, but Gildarts held a look of mock astonishment at hearing her reply.

"But it's me, Gildarts Clive! The super powerful mage of Fairy Tail, surely she'd want to meet someone like me, right?" He joked although Mira slowly shook her head, all the while smiling as she cleaned the bar counter in front of him.

"Sorry Gildarts, Yuki's not a very impressionable girl. Not even Natsu seemed to pique her interest to any level, however Lucy did since Yuki has read her books before."

"So what do you suggest?" Gildarts never had trouble gaining anyone's attention, be it civilians or the magic council but he was having difficulty with his own granddaughter. It was actually ironic now that he thought about it as his own daughter had trouble gaining his attention years ago.

"Just go up and talk to her." Mira replied pointedly as it was a rather obvious form of communicating with another person. "It not like she's unapproachable, rather she likes to keep to herself and won't hesitate to speak to someone if they come up to her."

"Huh, she reminds me so much of..." Gildarts had to let that sentence die in his throat as another ice mage's existence was not to be revealed and merely thanked Mira for the idea, while making his way over to the little brunette.

The crash mage tried to think up a number of things to say to her, it would actually be the first time he'd be able to hold a conversation with his granddaughter. A small amount of self anguish pooled in him as he realized that he had missed both his daughter and granddaughter's births because of his job, but it all seemed to fade away as he looked on to the smile Yuki wore. It filled him with an unmeasurable amount of happiness just by the way she reminded him of Cana and to the extent, Cornelia as well. So much so that he hadn't realized Natsu charging at him and subconsciously stopped the pink haired young man's fist, was skidded backwards a few steps and launched the slayer right up to the roof. Only when a bit of debris landed on his shoulder did he come around to what he had just done and looked at what Yuki's reaction would be.

She of course raised an eyebrow in curiosity as she regarded him, then moved her attention up to the ceiling where a Natsu shaped hole was made with the faint coughs of said slayer coming from the rafters. In the end she turned her attention back to Asuka and Gildarts was shocked that she didn't show anymore than that to his rather simple feat of strength against the Ishgar renowned hero. He could only think to himself that Mira was right when saying that the little ice mage wasn't an impressionable girl.

"Hello girls" The crash mage greeted once he finally arrived to their table, trying his best not to hug the life out of the brunette who was eyeing him rather oddly. "If you wouldn't mind Asuka, I'd like to speak with Yuki for a bit."

"No problem Gildarts, I'll see you around Yuki. Come find me when you're done so I can show you some of my spells." Asuka said as she made her way out of the booth and went off to play with some of the other kids around.

"Is there something you wished to speak to me about?" Yuki asked once it was just her and the acclaimed strongest of Fairy Tail, aside from a handful of others in the guild.

"Well, I wanted to speak to you after being told of your...unique position." Gildarts replied as he got up again and made a few steps leading towards the rear of the guild. "Come with me, I think it would be better that we spoke with a little more privacy."

Yuki was curious as to what the older man wanted her for, but she would humor him for the time being as her current conversation had gone off with the other kids and Erza and her team were busy with Natsu once he finally made his way down. Though if she had to be honest, she was interested to know about the orange haired man since he emanated an interesting sense about him. Whether that was because of his incredible magic power that slightly leaked from him or something completely different, she was unsure of although the little ice mage felt drawn to him.

The young brunette followed after the man, watching as he made minor conversation with the guildmates he passed and would give the occasional welcome to a new member he hadn't seen before. It was a large majority of the people that came up to him. Not many people had noticed Yuki following after him, but she had the oddest sense that if she fell a little too far behind then Gildarts would stop for a brief moment to allow her to be nearby. At least he was being courteous about it, so she could let the occasional bump from a fellow guildmate slip by without her sharp tongue to complain about it right after.

Not long into walking through the guild, the crash mage and the ice mage were making their way down to the beachfront as Gildarts felt that the pool wasn't going to be enough privacy, which was something he doesn't usually find since it's...him, for lack of a better word that he could think of. If he had to speak his mind, the orange haired man felt completely unprepared to speak to his newly discovered granddaughter. He thought he could come up with something getting to their spot but everyone began to crowd around him and he had to make sure Yuki didn't get jumbled about in the group of people. He sighed slightly, wishing that Cornelia were here with him since he believed that she would know what to do in this situation. A spark of pure happiness lit deep within him at the very thought of his wife seeing their little granddaughter.

"So... there was something on your mind involving me?" Yuki spoke up as the older man was merely looking out at the sea before him, very engrossed with his thoughts which led her to bring him back to reality.

"Uhh, right...so you're Gray's disciple. I knew the kid would follow his master's footsteps one day." He answered, going with the first thing that he could think of in his muddled thoughts concerning the young girl he was speaking to.

"Yes, Master Gray has taught me all the things I know about Ice-Make magic and I've been his student for two years. Although I can only call him as such when in private or with his close associates, other than that I address him as Master Zero." To Gildarts, the little brunette seemed rather glad to speak about her master's first name with someone else which he found quite interesting.

"Well I could guess why, but I can see that Gray is proud of you enough to send you here. You know he was a mage here once upon a time, if you could believe it." Gildarts was trying to allude to the fact that the dark haired young man was a member of Fairy Tail, which he hoped would boost her admiration of the guild she was now a part of.

"I'm aware of that, Master Gray has told me about his time here at various points while I stayed with him,but didn't speak much of the reasons he is no longer a mage of this guild nor for the fact that many of the longer standing members don't know him." Yuki felt lucky to know about him and some of the stories that Erza had spoken about that were filled with minor holes in them were filled with her knowledge from her master's side of the story.

"That's pretty much a personal matter only a select few are allowed to know, but I can tell you that it is something I believe he regrets whole heartedly. Wished it wasn't the case, he's got plenty as it is." Gildarts' last sentence was more of second thought he whispered aloud, but Yuki had picked up on it and looked at him with confusion.

"What do you mean that my master has plenty of regrets?" To her, it didn't seem he had much to rethink about as she saw him saving people, helping those that needed it and never really took things for granted.

"I don't know if Gray's ever told you about his past, but years ago I had come across an eight year old version of him who was lost to the world although he was quick to get into trouble." Gildarts thought back to the day he "infiltrated" The Vox in the Northern regions where he first met the small bundle of grumpiness and sarcastic quick wit.

"He gave me snippets of his past whenever we entered a familiar region he had been to, but not his entire life when he was a kid." Yuki admitted and was rather excited, truth be told, to know about her master's past aside from the little points in time that he told her in their travels.

"Well I don't know how you think he was, but the truth is he was a loud mouth, snot nosed stupid brat." Gildarts began, watching as Yuki's features slightly fell and knew that her image of him was changed. "But I think it was the brave kind of stupid if he risked his own life to rush into a super heavy security prison just to save an old man and fight for his freedom against a dark guild and their master."

"And he did that when he was eight?" To Yuki, the best she had ever done at that age was survive living with her step father before she traversed all of Isvan looking for Gray to become his student, so it was rather enlightening to know her master's bravery. "Wait, how do you know about that?"

"Because I was the one who helped him get out of their alive, he did his fair share during all that and did give a decent enough hit or two to the dark guild master. He actually stood right back up to prove he wasn't going to roll over and die so he can make sure that the old man was going to live, course I stepped in soon enough and took him out easily." Self promoting, could you blame him? Gildarts was boosting Gray's status to his granddaughter, why can't he get some support for himself too?

"That would have been the likely outcome since you were already S-class ranked at that time, basing off the construction of the Gildart's Shift and my master's age." Yuki was slightly impressed with the orange haired man, but she knew that he would have been more than capable enough to handle the situation given to how powerful the S-class mages in Fairy Tail are today.

"True, but we had our own little adventure as well. Defeating a sea monster and rescuing two people that were being held against their will for some sort of debt if I remember correctly, not really sure." Gildarts wasn't the best with his memory, but he did remember certain points in time that were of rather great interest to him.

"Oh I know who you're talking about; Mary and Amelie. During one of my master's request we came across a town and before we knew it, my master had bumped into Mary." Yuki had gone on a little bit to say how Mary instantly recognized him by the way he carried himself and by his magic, plus she had seen the Grand Magic Games and his victory.

"It's nice to know that those two are doing fine after this many years, but I'm actually wondering if your parents are fine with allowing you to stay at Gray's side and sending you off to Fairy Tail." He noticed how the young ice mage fell silent, but he was very curious about her family's reaction to being trained by him while she spoke animatedly about her travels with Gray.

"I don't have a family anymore." She answered meekly turning her attention away from Gildarts and towards the ocean, creating a bench for herself to sit on and long enough so that the older mage can have a seat as well.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dig into old wounds. Forget I asked anything." Gildarts was not going to create a rift between them so early on and could already say that he kind of screwed up. Luckily he knew that she wasn't angered by him in any noticeable way as his ass wasn't freezing to the bench although he was unsure whether or not Yuki would just dissolve it.

"No it's fine, I've learned to accept it with the help of my master." Yuki replied although the strange feeling in her chest was telling her to open up to this man, it was so similar to the one she felt towards her master and surprisingly enough to Cana as well although she wouldn't say much to her just yet. "If you wouldn't mind, I feel like I can entrust you with what I have to say. I can't explain it, but there seems to be a familiarity about you that makes me feel like we're connected to in some way."

"It's most likely the guild mark, we are all drawn together like family so long as we have this mark upon us." Gildarts replied in a matter-a-fact way, but he so wished he could've said that it was because he was her grandfather. Now that would have been a nice way to make a reveal, yet he chose to keep things under wraps like the masters had asked. "But if it'll make you feel any better than go ahead, speak to your heart's content and I'll listen. I'm like a father figure to a few of the people here or a trusted uncle depending on who you ask." He gave her a reassuring smile and awaited for her to speak, all the while Yuki continued to look out at the sea.

"My parents, I mean, my adoptive parents were the kindest people I could've ever asked for when I was growing up. We were our own happy family and things were as great as they could be, but when I was six my father died out on patrol; he was an officer for the town's law enforcement." Gildarts could see small pools of tears beginning to form at the corner of her eyes already and the crash mage was getting anxious as he wasn't very good at dealing with crying children.

"Hey take your time, no need to push yourself with this. I can understand if you want to stop." He gave her the best words he could find at the moment, but was glad that they were acceptable since she had nodded her head in response.

"My mother did her best to raise me after his passing and one day I felt like a part of me was no longer alone, I can't really explain it though it was a moment when I knew something in Earth Land had changed. After that, everything went as normal as possible for us and I had made friends with many of the other kids in the town I used to live in and a friendly one had invited my mother and I to join her family on their trip to Crocus to watch the Grand Magic Games." A happy smiled crossed her face at the memory and the orange haired man knew she was thinking back to her unnamed friend from her past.

"I was amazed by everything going on and although the first battles didn't go so well for Fairy Tail, I was excited watching them win and after the amazing light show they did with the illusion magic and dragons I had bumped into my master for the first time."

"So you met Gray years before you became his student? Looks like fate had a plan for you already set and you came out pretty lucky from how you are now." Gildarts commented, he didn't expect for her to be at the Games as a spectator and yet she had a chance encounter like none other.

"Yes well it was very brief as he helped me look for my mother when I got lost, he was surprisingly with Cana at the time and once my mother found me they rushed off to go to some ball all the guilds were invited to go to. One thing that has bothered was that for some odd reason I didn't mind walking between them." Yuki tried her best to think back to that day and never truly understood that feeling of safeness when she was with them, maybe it was because they were mages that she felt so well protected.

"The security of walking alongside good natured mages gives off that sensation, but I'm surprised not many people know about Gray's entire name if he was a participant in the Games." That was a rather odd thing that crossed his mind since thousands of people would've recognized him, even if he got Mest to wipe his memory from a few hundred people or so.

"Though amazing his fight was, not many people really kept their attention on the ice mages of the Games. Mostly everyone I knew was much more engrossed with the fights of the dragon slayers once we got back to town." She remembered bringing up her master's fights a few times, but it seemed her friends would divert the conversation of his existence away and move onto more favorable contestants like the Twin Dragons, Natsu Dragneel, Gajeel Redfox, Laxus Dreyar and even Wendy Marvel. "At least it was a small distraction from our everyday lives and things went back to the way they were, until my mother met someone."

"It's good to know your mother had found someone, I've...heard how hard it is to raise a child on your own." Gildarts couldn't get a complete grasp of the difficulties themselves, but by observing others did he learn; especially from Makarov as he had to look after Laxus since his mother had passed away and he had to banish his father a few years later.

"Yeah well **that** man didn't sit right with me from the start, ever since my mother introduced him I got this weird vibe and had the occasional thought that he was only with my mother for her looks." Gildarts had taken note of that venom laced pronoun and had the genius notion that Yuki didn't appreciate him one bit. "He seemed like a good man, but I couldn't shake the feeling of him being a fox in sheep's clothing and yet who would listen to a seven year old?"

"So I assume you saw more of this man?" A rhetorical question yes, but he could've done well without the sour look placed on the little brunette's face though it quickly left and in its place was a saddened one.

"There was nothing I could really do and in the end my mother fell in love with him. She loved him just as much as she loved my father and in the following year she married him and I couldn't break my mother's heart at how much I didn't accept that man as my new father." The crash mage could feel the anger emanate from her and at the same time it was filled with sadness, knowing something that hurts her deeply was about to be brought up. "And I think it was for the best as she was later diagnosed with a deadly tumor modern science or magic was incapable of eliminating without endangering her life right after. I did everything I could to let my mother's final year be the best with her daughter, but her "husband" began to grow distant and colder as time went on."

Her two emotions were beginning to meld together and this type of reaction was similar to Gray in Gildarts' eyes as it brought about an induced bout of energy within a person. Although in Yuki's case it was her magic seeping out and it was up to him to make sure that his feet weren't frozen into the sand, which it itself wasn't so lucky with the new sheet of ice covering it where the little ice mage's feet were. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, only to be surprised at the fact that she was shaking and her tears had already began to spill out from her eyes.

"She was so nice, a mother anybody could have asked for and slowly I saw her slip away from me. She was the world to me, she did everything in her power to raise me after Dad passed away and as much as she loved me, she ended up leaving me!" Yuki began to wipe her tears as small hiccups escaped from her, still pushing forward with her past. "She left me alone and my supposed step-father only attended her funeral to save face, I knew that he would go off gambling if he had a choice and after that everything just got worse for me."

"He didn't care enough to look after me, always getting himself piss drunk and would get a woman to bring home whenever he got the chance. He was a vile man through and through, but I was only happy knowing that my mother never had to see his true colors and enjoyed her last year." Though tough she was trying to be, a second wave of tears had come and she began to sob quietly at the life she lost.

Gildarts slowly scooted closer to her, placing a comforting arm around her and brought her in close as she subconsciously dug herself into his shirt. He could feel her cold tears passing through the fabric and a part of him was breaking at the sight of his own granddaughter crying in his arms. Why was it that so many who come to such a warm and welcoming guild suffer through bleak and cold pasts? Comforting comes the hardest to him, but he still went through it with Cana and he'd be damned if he couldn't with Yuki.

"It's alright, it's alright to cry. I understand the pain you feel, but you must also make it your strength. The pain of losing someone precious drives many of us in Fairy Tail and I'm sure that Gray had saved you from that life, right?" The crash mage spoke from experience and had found it better to speak about her master as it brought a light hearted mood to the little girl.

"Well, yeah he did but it wasn't easy in the beginning." Yuki slightly hiccuped as she tried to wipe away her tears, thinking back to the tireless months she spent traveling Isvan in order to reach New Deliora. "My master tested me with the basics and what I truly sought after in undergoing his training. It took me months before he had finally accepted me fully and I felt happy after everything that happened to me once he did."

"That does sound like Gray, it takes a while for him to adjust to others although once he does then there isn't anything stopping him from protecting those people with his life." Gildarts had picked up on that bit of information when he finally came back to Fairy Tail, a few months after he left Gray with Mary and Amelie. "I don't mean to pry, but you said you didn't have any parents and yet you still have a step-father. I can understand you not giving him a second thought, but isn't he still labeled as your care giver legally."

Ironic question from GIldarts as the man has troubles with the law and at times legality itself when it concerns the things he does out on jobs.

"Master Gray had done what he could to prove that I was not living under suitable conditions back home and moved all guardianship rights to himself. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but he had also placed me under the guardianship of the guild I were to join and its master when the time came." Yuki had no clue that her master did that, but it made sense for her to be easily taken out of the country and into Fairy Tail with only Master Makarov's say so. Plus Gray had explained it to her sometime before she left with the elderly man and his assistant Mest.

"The kid's thinking steps ahead, not really surprising if you ask me." The orange haired man commented off-handedly, yet he still had the burning question that had been lingering on his mind since they first started talking. "I know I have no real place for asking you this, but have you ever thought about looking for your birth parents?"

The young ice mage fell silent, this was a question she had posed on herself during her trek towards New Deliora. She went in search of Gray because she could feel the caring heart beneath all the power he wields, especially when they met in her old hometown but she then thought of the why. Yuki went after him in search of purpose, to learn to protect herself and strengthen her sense of being and yet if she was going through all this effort she could try and find a way to locate her biological parents. Knowing that she could wield magic simplified the results to about thirty-five percent of the country, but even then there were just too many things she needed in order to even begin that search.

It would be great to actually find out about her true parents, but she just couldn't afford to track them down. Not to mention that they had put her up for adoption for a reason, what it was could have been anyone's guess and Yuki wasn't about to let herself be heartbroken if they didn't want to accept her in their lives. That was if they were still around, but she didn't linger on that morbid thought for long. The young brunette quickly realized that she had been silent for sometime without giving Gildarts an answer and gave him her best thoughtful one after thinking over it thoroughly.

"Yes, at one point I wanted to know who they were but now I don't mind if I ever learn." Yuki replied with a smile on her face, something Gildarts hadn't really expected to see on her after her answer. "This guild is my family now," she slowly pulled down her shirt's collar to show the tail end of her dark blue guild mark on her chest, "this mark represents it and we are all drawn together like family so long as we have this mark upon us, as one man had told me. The guild, you and my master are my family and I wouldn't want it any other way."

If Gildarts wasn't trying to act so cool, he would've shed tears of pride at his granddaughter's answer. How Gray had raised her far surpassed anything that the orange haired man thought of previously, since she has truly been raised like a Fairy Tail mage before even coming here. Like any of the brats he's watched over in the past, Yuki's been through a tough spot but it didn't stop the caring heart that shines brightly within her and that's how every child should be.

 _"How much you would've loved our little Yuki, Cornelia."_ Gildarts thought happily as the little ice mage stood up and stretched her arms. _"And I've got to admit that you have acted like a better father than me Gray, but don't make my mistake of leaving her behind."_

"Now that's an answer a true fairy would say, now come on before I end up boring you." Gildarts said as the bench dissipated into thin air and the two headed back for the rear entrance of the guild, smiles plastered on their faces and Yuki felt great in finally getting to talk about her past with someone.

* * *

During the same time a meeting had been underway between Gray and his latest request's provider. The devil slayer had been on this job for about two weeks already since he last spoke with Crime Sorciere and departed from Isvan, and in the end it was actually him against his employer instead of the...people he had to interact with throughout it. If he knew more about what was actually going in the first place instead of questioning it, Gray would've taken a different approach. For now the devil slayer leaned against a wall as his employer was busy yelling his mouth off at what he thought would be a happy family reunion.

"I will absolutely have none of this insubordination from the both of you!" An aged man with minute areas of gray hair in his otherwise dark auburn hair yelled at his two daughters who had been successfully rescued and returned home safely. This man was Joseph Harbinger, a member of the limited aristocracy of Bosco who was none too happy of the news that he had been given.

"We are old enough to run our own lives father! We left for that very reason and will not submit to being used as nothing more than bargaining chips!" The eldest daughter of twenty-one years, Madeline, voiced out passionately as she had came to the idea of running from home in the first place being her only option from living a miserable life along with her younger sister of eighteen years, Apryl.

"You are my daughters foremost and will listen to my words as absolute Madeline! You will marry your chosen candidate as will your sister marry hers." Mr. Harbinger was much more adamant about their decisions to leave his home and bring shame to his name.

Gray would have never truly understood the situation if he had not been told about it during the trip back to the two young ladies' home. The devil slayer had been informed that they had been kidnapped while out on the town, but that had been partially true as the kidnapping happened after the two decided to flee from their home before they were forced into an arranged marriage set up by their father and it was only driven further since they were both magic users. It struck a chord in him at how much their story was similar to a bubbly blonde he knew, except this was more entitled to bring the father's name up in their aristocratic society than a business endeavor. Needless to say that this was a personal matter that involved the head and heirs of the Harbinger family, but he had given some helpful words to the girls beforehand.

"If being forced to live a life we had no choice in is what lays before us, then we rather denounce our name and live our lives like everyone else who doesn't think of themselves above the common folk." Madeline had much more of a free spirit and outspoken heart from what Gray had gathered in the time he got to know them, but Apryl was no pushover either as she too would defend herself if need be.

"You speak nothing but blasphemy and I will not tolerate it!" Mr. Harbinger was fuming with anger and the hooded young man could only assume that his employer never had to deal with his daughters disobeying him before. "You must see where I'm coming from Absolute Zero, I want what's best for my daughters. I went through the proper processes to acquire any talented mage to retrieve my daughters at any cost and I am very pleased with how you did."

Gray was no idiot to tell that the older man was trying to win him over with the request money that he had posted and more if he agreed, but the devil slayer wouldn't stoop so low. Although he couldn't judge him completely based on everything that he's done thus far as Mr. Harbinger could've been acting just like Lucy's father, who wanted nothing more than to give everything to his little girls. The weight in the room was heavy with anticipation for what he had to say and it really didn't sit right with him as this was a family matter that didn't need him to be involved with, however, the hooded young man was going to stick to his morals.

"While I do agree that you have placed their safety as your top priority, their free wills is what must be your main concern." Gray responded in his usual gruff voice he normally spoke to people unfamiliar to him and wasn't surprised by the other man's acid laced frown and glare. "They have reached an age where they can make sensible decisions and this entire arranged marriage situation isn't really the best solution to what you want for yourself if everyone loses."

"That's what I get for asking an Isvani, should've just agreed for the sake of his own damn payment." Mr. Harbinger muttered to himself, but was unaware of Gray's advanced hearing and hadn't noticed the look of disdain that the devil slayer had from beneath his hood. "It doesn't matter, my decision is final and you will do as I say."

"No, Maddie's right father." The gentle voice of Apryl spoke up, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "We are no longer little girls anymore, we have our own lives to live and if you can't accept that then I'm sorry you can't see past your own greed."

"I can't believe this, you are going against me as well Apryl!?" The auburn haired man wasn't taking it well and Gray knew that these girls were going to nail in the last bit of this coffin pretty soon.

"I am and we've come to the decision that we are leaving home to build up our own lives." Apryl replied and the devil slayer noticed the small jump the girls did when their father slammed his hands onto his desk.

"I will not stand for this! I am your father and you shall remain here!" Although Mr. Harbinger wasn't aware of it, Madeline's magic power was slowly seeping through her and Gray was sensing it rise although Apryl's was still leveled.

"Farewell father, maybe one day you can see the error of your choice for your own flesh and blood." Madeline said sternly as she turned to leave holding onto Apryl's hand as their luggage was conveniently left near the double doors of their father's office.

"Zero stop them this instant!" Mr. Harbinger commanded to the hired mage, but he didn't make an effort to raise a finger and instead began walking away from the angry man. "What are you doing!? I hired you to bring my daughters to me and now I've told you to make sure they don't leave, so do as I say!"

"Sorry Harbinger, I'm a mage of the people not a mercenary. It's their decision if they want to stay or leave, my job was only to rescue them and bring them back home." Gray continued to walk away as the older man began to shout obscenities to him before marching to the front of his desk.

"Allow them to leave and you can forget about getting paid mage!" The auburn haired man thought that had done the trick as the hooded mage stopped in his step, but did not turn to face him.

"Keep your money, our business is officially over Mr. Harbinger." Gray replied coldly as he stepped out of his office, following after the two young ladies a few steps behind them.

As the trio began walking away towards the main entrance, the girls bade farewell to the various household workers and servants who had been around for a number of years as they grew up. The personal guards stationed at the home, which was actually a mansion to be precise, were informed to stop them by direct order of their employer but none dared to make a move against Zero who followed behind the girls as their own bodyguard. They were more than aware of the hooded mage's capabilities and knew they had nothing capable of stopping him, they were after all hired to keep out the common miscreants of the country from robbing the place but not against high leveled mages.

It wasn't long before they heard the thrashing coming from the upper floors as the trio knew the owner of the mansion had lost his temper. Gray nudged the girls forward so they wouldn't lose their momentum to fear and kept a keen eye of their surroundings just in case a guard tried to use the girls as leverage against him. In the end it wasn't really necessary as they had made it out of the front gates without a problem and were lucky enough that the carriage driver was willing to take them into town, his loyalty remained solely to the exiled Mistress of the home and her daughters. They quickly loaded up their luggage and boarded the fancy carriage towards town, hopefully to catch a train for anywhere but there.

"Do you two have a place in mind for a destination? It's far too dangerous to stay here in Bosco without proper protection and you know very well how real that is." Gray voiced out, crossing his arms as he looked out the window, all the while the girls exchanged quick glances to each other.

"Well, we believed that you could be our own guide for a while longer." Madeline said as he became one of the most trust worthy people she had met aside from a select few servants back at the mansion.

"We set aside secret funds for ourselves that our father isn't aware of, a request our mother asked of us before she was exiled and we'll pay for your services with that." Apryl added as Gray shifted his head to look in their direction, his shadowed face the only thing the young ladies have seen since he came to their rescue in Sin.

"No, that's your money and you'll need it much more than I will." He replied, the gruff voice he had sounding rather gentle and left them to wonder what they should do now. "It's better to leave the country for someplace much safer, if you are willing to further develop your magic I could take you to Isvan with me and have you join one of its more recognized guilds."

"That sounds like a nice offer, but I don't know if we'll be able to adapt to the the conditions there." Madeline knew how Iceberg was and as far as she knew, Isvan was like a close cousin to that country and the cold weather was something she nor her sister were accustomed to. "We were actually thinking about heading south to Fiore; we know it's gone through a lot over the years, but the guilds there have great reputations with the people and we believe that it's much more suited for us."

"Fiore huh?" Gray gave it a little bit of thought, he knew he had no interest in returning there anytime soon aside from visiting Yuki but they didn't specifically say they were going to Fairy Tail. "Very well, I'll watch over you both as far as the City of Magnolia. There is someone that I can entrust your safety there and as for which guild you wish to join is up to your choosing."

"Thank you so much Zero, we can never repay you for what you've done for my sister and I." Apryl said as she gave him a thankful bow followed by Madeline, but he merely nodded his head in turn.

"About this person, are they as reliable as you say they are?" Madeline asked as she was rather cautious given that the last time she trusted someone, they were being transported to be sold as slaves in Sin.

"Very, she is my student after all and you have my word that no harm will come to you under her watch." Gray replied, knowing that it placed them at ease if only a little but could sense their worry as this was very well their first step towards their journey of life without it being on a silver platter.

As the carriage drew further away from the mansion, almost becoming a dot in the horizon, Mr. Harbinger had watched it grow smaller from his office's large window pane with a raged filled face. Many maids and butlers were busy working as fast they could to clean up the damage he had caused to his office in an attempt to avoid suffering his wrath any further than they were going to now that the young mistresses had left the mansion almost indefinitely.

 _"Those girls will pay dearly for betraying me like that, their own_ _ **father**_ _! Once I get my hands on them again, they will learn the price for their insubordination and my name will rise higher in this joke of a hierarchy in Boso."_ The auburn haired man thought coldly as his pride had been wounded by his own bloodline and wouldn't let it simply end like that.

The aged man soon had no thoughts about punishments, no interest in the fear filled servants or the many guards he was about to hire in a week's time once his thoughts moved onto one of Isvan's elite mages. Rather he began shaking in rage at the bastard mage that dared to defy him and turn his back to one of the most influential names in Bosco.

 _"Just you wait Absolute Zero, you'll pay for defying Joseph Harbinger and I'll make sure that you suffer!"_ He thought maliciously, already forming together a few old contacts that pose a very dangerous threat to society that he believed would even have someone like Zero quivering in fear. _"Prepare to have everything you've ever cared about ripped away from you for good!"_


	11. When The Master Calls

When The Master Calls

It had taken a little time, but Gray had managed to get them tickets for an express line train that would run from the border between Bosco and Fiore to a stop at the Magnolia station on its route across Fiore. Of course it was a bit more of a hassle as the devil slayer had to load up the girls' luggages on his own, the coach driver had to immediately return to the mansion for obvious reasons so he could not stay to lend a hand. It was tedious, but he was just glad it all felt like carrying milk jugs and the two young ladies were willing to help as much as they could.

Still, he was responsible for two heiresses now and though he hated the idea of leaving them to his daughter, he knew that they were much safer at Fairy Tail than with him. Now that he thought about their safety, the hooded devil slayer needed to get them moving to a more secured car. Just knowing in which country he was in and the angered father he had taken his daughter's from is enough for him to know that trouble won't be far behind.

Both girls were ready to listen to him and had no room to complain, for they both had more than enough experience to tell them that the world outside of their estate was a harsh one. They learned quickly that their only real chance of starting anew was getting out of Bosco, so listening to Absolute Zero was necessary as he was their only guide. Though they still had their private reserves about him since he had done an unbelievable job of acting like all of the other scum they had been exposed to from the moment they were kidnapped when they first met.

In any case, all three had traveled through a couple of train cars before arriving to an empty one and Gray found it to be the perfect place to spend the rest of the ride. Once they all had stepped in, the hooded devil slayer froze the train door behind them and the young ladies didn't react to it negatively for the prior knowledge that it was his way of making sure they aren't snuck up on. With the entrance sealed the next thing on Gray's list was to contact Yuki and inform her of his upcoming visit, yet he was unsure whether or not to allow her to tell someone else about it. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt in the hooded man's mind that someone's going to come along with her, so he had to be prepared.

"You two stay here, I'm going to make the call to my student so she knows that we are on our way." Gray informed them and made his exit at the other end of the train car, freezing that one as well once he stepped outside.

The devil slayer fumbled around inside the carry on bag he had on him underneath his cloak until his hands finally found the Lacriphone he still owned. His history with the device wasn't so intriguing as he was given one by Erza during his time as an undercover agent in Avatar and once Fairy Tail had been reestablished, he asked Warren to give him another one just in case he lost his current one. Surprisingly enough, the devil slayer never lost his main Lacriphone and merely had the second inside a box collecting dust until the entire incident with Alvarez and took it with him. He later gave it to Yuki when he believed it was necessary for her to keep in contact with him and the rest was history, though he was surprised to know that her Lacriphone was still functioning after so many years of inactivity.

He let go of the memories that were flooding through his mind and went back to thinking about contacting Yuki. There was no guarantee that everyone's safety would be alright if he immediately left Apryl and Madeline to Yuki, but if he surprised his daughter with his visit then there would be a lot more to deal with as soon as she learned of his arrival. He juggled with the ideas for a little more before he decided that it was better for Yuki to know that he was on his way so there were better safety measures for everyone in place once they made it to Magnolia.

Allowing his magic to flow into the device, Gray waited for the machine to connect to the other line and couldn't believe how far Warren has advanced communication that can travel miles away without the usage of a communication lacrima. He held it against his ear, looking out at the rolling hills as the train passed them and hummed a little tune to himself until he heard the receiver on the other end pick up. The first thing he heard was Yuki's labored breathing, trying hard to catch whatever air she could into her lungs and held back saying anything once she finally settled down.

"Did you run a mile before you answered me?" Gray questioned jokingly as the younger ice mage gave her apologies and greeted her master properly although the devil slayer merely gave a chuckle after it.

"No need to be so formal Yuki, it's just me and you've been a part of Fairy Tail for over a couple of months now so it should already tell you how "formal" they are in the guild." The hooded mage wondered when she decided to be so polite and expected the curt reply she gave to him on manners and lack there of with many in the guild.

"Glad to know that you're still standing strong, but I need you to listen to me very closely." Gray heard her stammer on her words before she agreed, though the devil slayer knew she wasn't expecting him to become so serious so fast.

"In about four days I need you to be waiting by the Magnolia Station with someone you can trust at your side." As expected, Yuki questioned his words and he wondered how she'd react to the news a little more now. "Because I'm placing two former heiresses under your care until they find a guild they wish to join."

The devil slayer now stood with his Lacriphone ten inches away from his ear as Yuki went into a tirade about her gaining new responsibilities over two strangers when she was already dealing with her guildmates as it was. She pointed out Cana the most for bothering her more than anyone else and Gray found it ironic that she was complaining about her mother like that. Although he couldn't blame his daughter for being mad as this was his first call to her after her birthday and the devil slayer was only calling to tell her of her upcoming duties. Though he couldn't let her go on as she would most likely garner attention to herself wherever she may be, so he decided to drop, what he could only guess as, the good news(?) to her.

"Sharp tongue as always, but will you still say that when I'm standing in front of you?" He questioned her and internally chuckled at how she repeated his question in an astonished voice. "That's right, I'll also be coming to Magnolia as well for a...short visit so that's why I want you to bring someone you can trust along for the occasion."

In came the apologies one after the other as his young daughter had realized her master was actually coming to Magnolia and he could only assume how much she was biting her tongue at her past remarks. He was happy to know that her time at the guild hasn't changed her attitude at all and hoped she'd made great connections with his former comrades as not only guildmates, but family as well. Gray let her go on for another minute before he decided that she had already made her point of being sorry for speaking to him in such a way.

"It's fine Yuki, just remember to be ready at the station by at least twelve o'clock. We should be arriving by then if we keep to the schedule." She gave her reply of confirmation to him and he gave a smile at the thought of her face when she sees him. "Good, see you then Yuki." The young ice mage gave her goodbye and he hung up, sighing exasperatedly as this would be marking his first time back in Magnolia in four years.

 _ **"I can only imagine how everyone is, maybe I should pay them a quick visit..."**_ Gray thought to himself; looking back at not only his guildmates, but the other important people to him living in Magnolia.

With that, Gray went back into the train car and allowed his mind to wander about old memories he hadn't given a thought about in many years. As for Yuki, she was reacting much like Gray had expected.

* * *

The little brunette was inside the guild hall when her master had called her and immediately dashed outside to take his call as it was the first he's done so in a while. Many of her fellow guild mates watched her go, to which they had been curious at the sudden exit although they just let it be and went back to what they were doing. Except her unbeknownst grandfather had watched her go worriedly and a certain scarlet haired mage passed her once she was entering the hall. It wasn't until a few minutes had passed that she returned looking slightly giddish which had both Erza's and Gildarts' curiously watch her as it was the first time either of them had witnessed such a look on the little ice mage.

Of course the orange haired crash mage was the first to move as he wished to know what made his granddaughter so happy. Lucky for him she sat alone at a booth as she, what he could assume, was mumbling about something and decided to slide into the seat across from her and she only realized he was there once he tapped the table in front of her.

"O-Oh hello Gildarts, when did you get here?" Yuki asked as the older mage merely chuckled at her words as he took on a more lax sitting position.

"Just a few minutes, give or take. The real question here is what's put a big happy smile on your face?" The crash mage asked and Yuki immediately began touching her face to realize that she had been sporting a smile.

"How long was I doing that?" She asked more to herself and just shook her head free of her current thought, regaining her cool exterior that her master had showed her. "That doesn't matter right now, I just need to focus on being ready."

"And what is this occasion you need to be ready for?" Gildarts asked watching curiously as the little ice mage looked to be summing him up for some reason, until she finally spoke up.

"As you know from where I come from and the circumstances of it as well, I can trust you to keep this between us." Yuki could tell that the orange haired man wouldn't tell a soul, but she still needed to inform the guild master about this and hopefully he'd be understanding enough about this situation like Gildarts would be. "I ran out of the guild because Master Zero had called me and he said that in four days time, he'd be coming here to Magnolia."

"That's great, I might get the chance to speak with him again after so long." Gildarts said although he was confused as to why the young brunette got up from her seat.

"Just make sure you catch up to him once he's here, for now please come with me as Master Makarov should be notified about his arrival." The crash mage quickly got up and followed after her towards the Master's office understanding that he should know that a banished ex-Fairy Tail mage was about to show up in the city he was watching over.

Although his attention was slightly diverted at the sound of Erza's harsh coughing, but focused on where he was going since he almost gave the pillar he was about to walk into a kiss with his face. Her team seemed to have said something to her from what Gildarts could perceive that most likely shocked her, but he was sure that it had something to do with Natsu as the requip mage's shock was focused on him. Hopefully the dragon slayer didn't insult her in some way subconsciously as he was more than likely going to have to clean up after the pink haired young man, something the Master always made him do if he ever was going to stay at the guild instead of go off on another request.

He followed the girl up the staircase for the second time that day and found it rather amusing that this time he knew her as one of his own blood, who was getting rather happy at seeing her father again. Of course "Daddy" was nothing more than "Master Gray" at the moment and his daughter had yet to become "Mommy", although the way she had been acting with her recently tells him that she may fill that role soon enough. One of these days the little ice mage he was following behind, down the hall towards the Master's office, will be riding on his shoulders with her mother and father at his sides like one big happy family.

"Now it's my turn to say what's got you smiling so big like that?" Yuki asked as she looked up at the S-class mage who shook his head casually.

"Nothing really, just reminiscing on old memories." He replied, inwardly embarrassed that his granddaughter had nearly caught him in the act of fantasising their family.

"Okay...?" Yuki had been curious, and slightly weirded out, by the older man's interesting behaviour when he was hanging around her, but he was truthfully fun company to have.

Their conversation ended there for the time being and continued to pass the random door until they arrived at Master Makarov's office. Yuki was rather pensive about entering knowing that although she wasn't aware of what Master Gray had done in the past, she did know that he had been banished from the guild by direct order of the current guild master. She was unsure how the elderly master would take the news, but the young brunette was slightly relying on the crash mage for his support on his coming and knew that the woman she met, Mavis, would take it with good intention.

Yuki looked up to Gildarts once again and the orange haired man gave her a reassuring nod, to which she sucked in a large breath of air and knocked on the Master's door. They both heard his reply to come in and, slightly shaky in the legs, Yuki walked in first with the crash mage following in after watching as Makarov turned around to face them as he had been previously speaking to the First Master.

"Ah Yuki, what can I do you for you my child?" He asked as the little ice mage took a few tentative steps forward and the aging master could see her mustering up her courage to speak her next words.

"Master Makarov, I've come to tell you that my Master will be arriving at the Magnolia Station in about four days." She said in one breath, noticing the rise of his bushy gray eyebrows but he was not the first to reply to her words. Rather it was the First Master who clapped her hands happily about the news.

"That's wonderful to hear Yuki, you'll be able to reunite with your master very soon." Mavis always saw the positive in certain information given to them and this was just one of those cases, which Makarov was reluctant to burst her happy bubble. "It has been three months since you've joined, but he must really be missing you if he's coming for a visit."

"I wouldn't say he was missing me..." Yuki's cheeks slightly tinted pink in embarrassment at the First Master's claim, although she was a bit wrong as she had only been a member for two months and three weeks so far. "Plus he's told me that two people will be coming with him as he wants to entrust them to me and I can only guess to the extent; Fairy Tail."

"Does he think he can dump people off on others? It's one thing that he'll be arriving here, it's another to have you look after a pair of strangers." Makarov spoke up this time seeing as the young man was shoving off some sort of responsibility on Yuki, but mainly on the guild it would seem. "As for his arrival, he should be well aware of the fact that he is not allowed to return here on my orders or we will have to use force against him."

"Come on Gramps, there's no way the brat would think about attacking the guild and his former friends. It's just not who he is and it wouldn't be right to have all the people he's ever known to be up in arms against him." Gildarts retorted to the last bit of the diminutive master's reply although he was then followed up by the First Master.

"No need to be so uptight eighth," Mavis said which garnered the surprise of everyone in the room for speaking to him like that. "I think it's fine for him to come, besides you told him that he was not allowed to come back to the guild and nothing about the city itself."

"Y-Yes well..." Makarov had no words to that as the First had managed to find a loophole in his words, much to his chagrin as not many have done so in the past. "Very well if the First is fine with this then I can allow his visitation; however, I want someone else to come with you to meet him."

"Of course Master Makarov, but the number of candidates is limited." Yuki replied to his proposition, but was right as only four people were the only ones who could come along. _**"I still would have to look for someone either way, so this is like killing two birds with one stone."**_ She added mentally since it was also a request from her master to have someone she trusted to tag along with her.

"Hmm, that is true so I'm tasking Gildarts to go with you. Dangerous as it may seem to send him, he'll be able to stop Gray if he starts something." Yuki was rather shocked to hear that the old man had been this cautious regarding her master, was the thing he had done in the past that awful that they were worried he'd do it again.

"I'm positive he won't do anything Master Makarov, there really is no need to worry about Master Gray." She wanted to defend her master for the good man that he is as he had been banished from the guild for four years according to what Gildarts had told her.

"My child I only ask of him to go as my top priority is the safety of the city and my children, including yourself, as they are all my responsibilities. I do it not out of fear of your master, but caution for any resentment he may have against me or the guild for banishing him." He never liked to consider the ice mage a threat to anyone here especially as his memories would always portray him as the little boy in search of a chance to save his master, but the aging old man had his priorities to focus on for the greater good of the people.

"I understand, but please know that he doesn't hold anything against any of you, no matter what has happened to him in the past. Master Gray always speaks fondly of Fairy Tail and I see why now." Yuki added before nodding her head and stepping out of his office, while Gildarts still remained in the room.

"Is there something you like to add GIldarts?" Makarov asked as he expected the crash mage to leave following after Yuki, something he knew the orange haired man would've done so he could continue to speak to his granddaughter a little more.

"Actually I was wondering if you'd say anything to me personally, like how I should behave myself knowing that Yuki's my little girl?" Gildarts was always told to act accordingly by the old man, whether as a reminder or a strict order.

"Why would I need to? Gray's been taking care of your granddaughter by himself for two years and is fully aware of the fact that she belongs to Cana, so why should I question your behavior for acknowledging her as your own?" It would seem obvious to others that a grandfather would be ecstatic about their family continuing so Makarov couldn't come to deny the S-class mage his right to tell the former Fairy Tail member that he knew it.

"Yeah well aside from that, I know he's my son-in-law who helped bring Yuki into this world." He said smugly as this was going to be his first meeting with Gray, his daughter's baby daddy and not as the ice mage he knew. "Shouldn't you caution me not to bring a building down on him?"

Both masters had been stunned silent, Makarov for the reason that he had never expected Gray of actually being Yuki's father and Mavis was just realizing that the young woman she had entrusted Fairy Glitter to had a relationship with the now Fallen Fairy. She of course thought it was so close in relation to an old story of the child born between a walker of the light and another who had fallen to the darkness, one that she hasn't read in many years. While the First Master was lost in her memories about the story, Makarov just couldn't grasp the fact that the young man gave up his daughter to stay in a safer place with her mother nearby.

It touched the old man's heart that Gray had entrusted the safety of his own child to him and the guild, even after they had to banish him for his crime. The fact that he still trusted them this much told the aging master that Yuki was right in the sense that the ice mage still held Fairy Tail in a fond light in his heart. This also brought to light the reason as to how Gray knew Yuki to be Cana's mother, mainly from the point in which he had to give his blood for her necessary transfusion after the incident. It was the only logical explanation that would've stated that Yuki was a fifty percent match with him, if Makarov had to give his best hypothesis about all this.

"You two know that I'm still here right?" The crash mage snapped his fingers as he felt like he had been ignored, given to the fact that both masters had remained quiet for a couple of minutes.

"Yes, yes as I was saying," Makarov spoke up as he regained his senses and drew himself out of his previous thoughts, "I have said that I don't need to tell you how to behave and please do not cause any damage to the city, if there is one request I have for you then let it be that."

"Alright, deal." Gildarts agreed as he began to walk out of the office with his smug smile still on his face. "And be careful if you decide to send Mest out to keep an eye on us, I'm pretty sure Gray's not gonna like it." With that he finally stepped out of Makarov's office leaving the old man to reconsider the idea of doing just that, since he hadn't thought that Gildarts would've seen it coming beforehand.

* * *

During the similar time that Yuki had told Gildarts that her master was coming to Magnolia, a certain pink haired slayer had actually caught on to her words. To say that he was eavesdropping would be wrong as he had been slightly conditioned to hear what Yuki would say about her "great" Master Zero and what he's accomplished in his past and all that junk. Now to say that he was jealous of her master wouldn't be so off the mark, although he'd never admit to it out loud. It was more in part of the fact that a little bit of his fame might've gone to his head and he liked it when other young mages looked up to him, so Yuki was more or less his first challenge to the fact that she didn't regard him so highly. Even Lucy got praise from the little ice mage, not to mention his own wife got praise because Lisanna was said to be able to put up with him.

"Oh good, her master's coming isn't that great." Natsu remarked sarcastically grumbling into his scarf, but his team had all looked at him questioningly for it.

"What was that Natsu? Whose master is coming?" Lisanna asked as she sat next to him, hearing his grumbling clear enough even if it was slightly muffled by his scarf.

"Yuki's super special "Master Zero" is coming to Magnolia in a couple of days." He repeated adding a lot of emphasis and sarcasm on the Master Zero bit, although Erza had chosen the wrong time to take a sip of her afternoon tea.

"He's what!?" She coughed sharply as the intake of air only made her cough even more, but she tried her best to settle herself. "What could it mean?"

"No need to be so worried Erza, maybe he just wants to visit his student and see how she's doing." Lisanna offered as she believed that any master would want to see how their former pupils are doing out in the world once they left them.

"Lisanna's right, he might've gotten worried or something. Yuki does say that he keeps rather busy and it could be he hasn't been able to find a way to keep in contact with her yet." Lucy added as Yuki's stories do depict him as more of a traveler, even though he has a home. "I think it's rather nice that he's coming all the way from a different country to check up on his only student."

"Yeah well the first chance I get to confront him, I'm gonna fight this Absolute Zero!" Natsu proclaimed, but it was Erza who moved forward and dropped him back into his seat by his scarf.

"You will do no such thing." Erza reprimanded, knowing that they couldn't bring damage to the city and Zero would see it as some random unprovoked act of aggression against him. "If he ever comes to actually see the guild, I want to make sure that he sees this place is a stable enough environment for his student to be a member of."

Normally many people are always surprised by the way the guild acts, which gives its usual charm but she was unsure if Zero has ever even known about the guilds wild behaviour. Yuki's mysterious master could be a friend of Master Makarov who he trusted to watch over the little brunette and he might gain a negative opinion about them. She had a duty as the next guildmaster to make sure the guild's reputation is upheld, but also make sure that the guild's usual freedom they express is not impeded on. Holding up the guild's views became a completely different experience now, which allowed more of her respect to grow for Master Makarov and what he had to deal with for a number of years.

"No need to worry Erza, I'm sure he'll leave a big enough impression on everyone if he's just as strong as Natsu." Lucy said although she was still skeptical if having that many powerhouses in one place was a good idea, more so to the fact that Yuki's master and Natsu's magic were polar opposite so there could be some friction if the two meet.

"Big meaning on **if** Lucy, since his ice won't match up to my flames." Natsu cockily said, although it wasn't that unfounded as there were hardly many materials he couldn't melt through at this point, the arena back in Crocus being one of the biggest examples as he literally melted the stone all those years ago.

"I hope you're not getting any funny ideas Natsu, if you are then I have to put my foot down on any thought you have in mind. If necessary than on you as well." The requip mage announced as the pink haired dragon slayer shrunk back into his seat in fear of the Titania.

"No ma'am, there's nothing going on in my brain." He nervously replied inching closer to Lisanna for protection as she gave him a playful smile, but Lucy sighed to herself as one of the strongest mages in existence that she personally knew is cowering in fear next to his wife.

"Good, now do you know exactly when Absolute Zero will be arriving here to Magnolia?" The scarlet haired woman wanted to be prepared, possibly even welcome him to the city alongside Yuki who no doubt would be awaiting his arrival at the station.

"I think she said four days or something, I didn't catch it real good." Natsu replied as he thought back to what Yuki told Gildarts, but what he didn't understand was why she bothered telling that old man and not even Erza? In the end he didn't give it another thought and let it go, focusing back on Erza just in case she would test him if he was paying attention or not.

"Then we should be ready in four days time, I'll check in with the train schedules and figure out which one he'll be arriving in." Erza concluded to the rest of her team, although Lucy was skeptical of doing this without Yuki's knowledge but she knew that once Erza's set her mind on something there's nothing that'll stop her.

 _ **"I hope you're in for more than one surprise Yuki, not to mention your master when he sees the group of people that'll greet him."**_ Lucy thought to herself as Erza continued to explain her thoughts of what should and needed to be done with more reminders that they needed to make a good first impression.


	12. Confrontation

Confrontation

Four days had come and gone much faster than what Yuki had anticipated, her own excitement waking her up well before most of the other women in the dormitory at Fairy Hills and to pass the time she cleaned her room extensively. Of course she would expect Master Gray to compliment her on keeping her room in order, but that was if boys were allowed in the dorm. As she heard the sounds of doors opening up and the sounds of footsteps moving back and forth, the young ice mage knew that everyone was already on the move to get ready for the day. While everyone was still dreary from waking up the brunette slipped through everyone, making her way towards the exit and was relieved that the sound of metal clinking together was still deeper in the dorm.

This was the sign she needed to know that Erza had barely started polishing her armor for the day and quickly exited through the front door, but not before Cana caught a glimpse of her leaving. The card mage was curious as to what the girl was up to so early, but she couldn't go and follow her as her hangover was starting to kick in. She'd learn what got her so motivated later on at the guild with another surprise hug if she could sneak up on her. Though back with Yuki, she walked with a hop in her step as the day couldn't be anymore perfect with the shine of the sun ever so bright and puffy white clouds dotting the clear blue sky above her.

Or so she would've been doing and had actually hoped for, but the world was not so willing to give her at least today. Dark clouds loomed overhead and the little brunette had quickly created an umbrella with her ice make before the first drops of rain would pelt her, which she wasn't looking forward to with her master coming. A part of her had wanted to speak to Juvia if she could do something about these clouds, but she didn't want to bother her with her selfish request. Not to mention the water mage's questioning of why exactly she needed the rain to stop for this day in particular that would soon follow if she had agreed.

She quickly walked through the rain wondering whether or not the day was still good enough to spend with her master, before realizing that he's not going to be alone. She outwardly groaned at remembering that two strangers were going to be under her care from now until they find a guild they want to join. She knew that her complaints were very much heard by Master Gray, but it would be his first visit to the city he used to live in and had hoped it would be the two of them looking around Magnolia. No later did she mischievously thought about leaving whoever was coming to Gildarts while they took a stroll across the city, but she knew it wouldn't be fair to the crash mage.

Kicking a random pebble in her way, Yuki merely grumbled to herself at how awful the day was starting out for her. She had no real qualms with the rain, she actually liked it, but today was a day that she hoped for sunshine. She left her complaints in her mind as she continued to to walk towards the guild, allowing the sound of the rain be her atmosphere for the time being.

Soon enough the young ice mage had finally made it to the guild, quickly vanishing her ice umbrella from her hand and took her seat at an available booth. She let her head slump against the tabletop as she allowed herself to express a bit of her disappointment of how the day was already going. Though her lonesomeness was soon interrupted by the appearance of Gildarts as he sat himself down across from her, a friendly smile plastered on his face as he curiously eyed her sour mood.

"Why the long face Yuki? Shouldn't you be happy that your master's coming today?" He asked as she raised her head, crossing her arms on the table as a makeshift head rest.

"I am, but the rain is just a little bit in the way is all." She replied looking out of one of the available windows the guild had.

"I would be more than happy to get rid of it for you, but my magic works better against either solids, liquids and other magic. It'd be pretty dangerous if I tried it against the sky itself, wouldn't you think?" Gildarts admitted as he may be capable of amazing things, but to completely split every rain cloud all around Magnolia would take a good portion of power and he couldn't risk damaging the city in the process.

"I guess you're right, looks like it can't be helped." She replied still looking out from the window, doing everything in her power to not look at the clock; even if she knew that there was still a little over a few hours left until she needed to be at the station.

* * *

Meanwhile on the train towards Magnolia, Gray had woken up from his slumber a few hours prior and sensed out the presences around him as a precaution. Both Apryl and Madeline were still sleeping and the train car was empty with just them inside, but he noticed the carvings on the train door. He had known about their uninvited guests that had been tailing them at a stop still in Bosco and knew it was their doing, but those carvings were only possible due to the that the devil slayer had forgotten to reinforce the makeshift barrier with his slayer magic. In any case, the ice was still too thick to get through and he had managed to reinforce the windows with his slayer ice once he noticed their stalkers so there was no way they were getting through there.

Gray had to admit that the heiresses' father worked fast to get people tailing him already, but from the magic he had secretly sensed from them, they weren't any big threat to him. He summed the mysterious pair following them to be about low C-class wizards, but they still proved to be a threat to the young ladies so he still needed to be careful. He moved these thoughts to a side as the aforementioned girls were waking up in their booth.

"Good morning Mr. Zero or is it still night?" Apryl asked looking out of the train window and noticing the dark rainy clouds over head, while the hooded mage was making his way to the booth she was sharing with her sister.

"It's morning alright, but it's one rainy day. Still, we'll be arriving at the city very soon." He replied as the eldest sister was starting to stir, the first thing her eyes landed on being the rain drops on the window.

"Aw it's raining," Madeline whined as the landscape of wet grass lands, road and trees came into view for her, "I was hoping for a clear sunny day, it would've been nice for our fresh start to go along with one."

"You've taken this whole "new life" situation rather well and fast, Madeline. I would've thought this would take some time to get used to." The ice mage voiced out as he would've expected her to miss her old life a bit longer, given that it's only been four days since she had denounced her position of a lady of great wealth.

"Nothing can get done if you're always looking to the past." Madeline replied and it slightly struck a chord within Gray at hearing that. "This is when we will think for ourselves and make the best out of our life choices from now on, I've got to be strong for not only me but for Apryl too." She continued as her sister smiled warmly at her words.

"At least you have heart, that's the best way to continue on the path of life." Gray complemented to the elder Harbinger sister as she in turn became bashful at the elite mage's words. "And if you're up for it, I can give you the opportunity to use your magic."

"Y-Yes, I'll be glad to try." Madeline readily agreed, but had quickly realized that Zero was an ice wizard while she focused on light magic. "But how are you going to teach me how to use it if our magic is completely different?"

"No need to worry, what I'm going to tell you to do can be done so long as you've got some form of elemental magic that coincides with the weather." Zero replied as he began going through his carry on bag until his hand finally found the pouch he was looking for. "An old friend gave me this pouch in case I needed some help out in the field."

"What is it?" Apryl asked as she eyed the pouch he was holding out curiously, not understanding what value it held for him to be holding on to it.

"There is a specially created powder on the inside that always a user to create any form of natural weather depending on the element a user wields." The hooded mage explained, but both young ladies were still lost to its purpose, yet Gray understood that they may have not been exposed to so much magic in the past as they grew up. "Here's an example; if I wanted to boost my dominance on a battlefield then all I have to do is imbue my ice magic into the pouch and toss it into the air. Once far enough it will explode and release the powder in which it will cause the natural conditions for a blizzard to form, all made from nature itself and has no lingering magic of my own in it at all."

"So this little bag has the power to create a natural blizzard with just putting your own magic into it?" Apryl had never heard of such a thing being done before, it literally meant that a person can cause a natural phenomenon with just a bit of the powder and their magic.

"Okay, but what does this have to do with my chance at using my magic?" Madeline wasn't clear enough of the reason he pulled the powder pouch out for.

"Simple really, you'll be getting rid of this rain yourself using it." Zero replied as he tossed the pouch her way and watched as she fumbled it for a bit before securely gripping it into her hands.

"But I don't have an elemental magic type, I'm a light magic user." Madeline knew for a fact that light itself wasn't an element, so Zero's plan couldn't be done by her.

"I beg to differ since your magic may be that of light, yet it doesn't solely rely on the ethernano around us." It was mainly a theory the ice mage had about Madeline, but he wouldn't tell the confused girl in front of him that. "You are a unique light user as you also gather light energy from the sun itself and if I had to guess than moonlight as well." Now that last part had him slightly cautious as it would mean that she could become a mobile Moon Drip user herself.

"You really think so?" Madeline questioned as she had never given thought about it before as she had only used her magic to entertain Apryl and herself, but had become terrified before she could use it for self defense when they were kidnapped. "But it still doesn't mean that I can do it though."

"The sun naturally heats up Earth Land doesn't it, so it is a type of weather. A sunny day is one of it's name and the summer heat only derives from the sun's heat hitting us more." Gray explained and could tell that the older Harbinger was coming to terms with it. "And if you need a little more incentive, then this is magic and anything is possible. All you've got to do is try."

"Alright I'll try my best then." Madeline said confidently as Zero nodded to her, gesturing for the two to follow him to the back of the train car.

"Since you'll need some more physical strength training before you can throw it far enough into the air, I'll be doing that myself." Zero said as the young lady nodded her head in understanding, awaiting his next words for what she needed to do. "Good, now try to focus on your magical energy and push it into your hands, letting it flow into the pouch thoroughly."

Apryl watched as her older sister concentrated and before long, Madeline's hands began to glow brightly with her magic. She was amazed at the light she was emitting and the warmth that radiated off her sister, envious that her magic belonged to light while hers dealt with the shadows. Apryl's smile was still present for the success her sister had, but it slightly faltered and Gray had noticed it rather easily with the feeling that the younger sibling must feel left out or something associated to it.

"That's good enough Madeline, the pouch should have enough of your light magic to work just fine." Zero said as the auburn haired girl relinquished pushing her magic and noticed how the pouch glowed beautifully with her magic.

"Wow, look how amazing this looks Apryl!" She was in wonder with how it looked and her sister enthusiastically agreed with her, but kindly gave it to Zero for the next part to occur.

The hooded mage held the glowing pouch in his palm, the Harbinger young ladies guessing on the idea that he was looking for the right moment to throw it and watched as he reeled his arm back, but could feel the cold air increase more so now.

"Ice Make: Vambrace!" They watched as his arm was encased in ice as the pouch moved higher up into a hand formed in his ice, then throw it with enough force that they could have sworn it left a streak as it flew into the air. "Burst open and mix!" He then shouted and the girls had guessed that to be the way the pouch would explode.

"So you have to say that in order for the pouch to explode?" Apryl asked the hooded mage, but he shook his head telling her that she was wrong.

"Not really, I said it just to lighten the mood." Zero replied as the young ladies faltered at his words. "Although the powder itself does mix with the atmosphere so one has to be careful not to open it so much before they do the necessary steps leading up to it's launch."

As he finished his words all three looked up to the sky as a bright flash exploded in the air that actually gained the attention of the other passengers as well. No later when the light faded away, the rain itself stopped falling and soon enough the dark clouds began to part as the sun began to shine down on them. Needless to say, Madeline was in complete joy at the fact that she had actually been able to stop the rain, but to Gray it meant that he was right in his assumption that she was gaining light energy from the sun and ethernano as well.

"Can you believe it Apryl?! I actually did it!" To say the auburn haired girl was overjoyed would be an understatement as Gray in a sense could feel her joy radiate off of her in calm waves with her happiness although he could also sense the slight buffer emanating from her sister that caused it to sightly circle past her.

"It was amazing, maybe you do have an affinity for stronger magic with more training." She replied with a happy smile on her face, although the devil slayer knew it was slightly forced.

"Alright you two, I think our work here is done so let's head on back inside and relax a bit more. Our stop should be coming soon by now. " He led them back inside and had no doubt that their two stalking friends had seen the display of Madeline's magic power.

* * *

Back at the guild the same light had been seen from behind the mountains' peaks as the rain stopped and the sun began to shine, leaving a certain water mage completely confused of what had just happened. The bright flash happened so suddenly that Juvia forgot she still had her arm semi-raised prepared to stop the rain herself as a favor for Gildarts. Soon enough the crash mage came outside once he noticed the traces of sunlight peering through the guild's windows and came to thank her for her help.

"Juvia didn't do this, she hasn't even allowed her magic to flow and stop the rain." The blue haired woman said to clear things up. "But she is rather curious of what stopped the rain, something out in the distance must've played a factor."

"Did something happen before you got the chance to do anything?" Gildarts asked as he continued to look towards the area in which Juvia was staring at.

"Juvia's unsure if it really was the cause, but a bright flash of light appeared in that direction and the rain stopped soon after." She pointed beyond the mountain peaks and Gildarts hummed in understanding before patting the water mage's back.

"Nothing we can do now about the light, but thanks for trying to get rid of the rain anyways Juvia." He said before walking back into the guild while the blue haired woman still looked curiously at the peaks before she too went back inside.

The crash mage felt the explosion of magical energy which was most likely the light Juvia had seen, but unless it did prove to be some sort of problem then Fairy Tail was most likely going to handle it without interference. Either way, he was glad that the rain had now stopped as it was what he planned to do for Yuki as a way to make her happier. Juvia was a much safer bet to solve the problem as she had learned to master her ability of controlling the rain, so he had kindly asked her to alleviate the rain on Yuki's behalf.

Still he could only just accept the outcome as some sort of divine intervention or something as the sun was out so it would lift his granddaughter's spirits higher now. The only problem with that was for the fact that said granddaughter had wandered off someplace and the orange haired man had no idea where she went. He searched for her in the most likely places but there was still no sign of her and in the end he decided to leave her alone since they would meet each other again to head for the station. If he couldn't spend any more time with his granddaughter than he'd go and do so with his daughter, which Cana was unlucky to be in his line of sight as he made his way over to her.

As Cana was about to take a swig of her morning booze she was engulfed in a hug by her ever so affectionate father who began cooing at her again. Like most times, the card mage tried to forcibly push him away from doing such a thing although this time she was pushing much harder than usual which even Gildarts noticed. He still held her in a hug, but could tell that she was much more annoyed than usual.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" The crash mage gently asked as his daughter merely gave up the struggle of trying to push him away and just accepted him hugging her.

"Nothing's wrong, what gave you that impression?" Cana retorted in a sassy manner, which was a big indicator as any to let the orange haired man know she was annoyed.

"Really, then what's with all the sass and extra effort to shove me off this time around?" Gildarts asked as she turned to face another direction away from his gazing eyes, continuously doing so whenever he tried to see her face.

"This is my usual amount of sass just to clarify and I just don't want you to be glomping me so much old man." Cana replied still doing her best to avoid making eye contact with her father, placing her hand in the way of him trying to rub his cheek against hers.

"Cana..." Gildarts said in a parenting tone, the likes of which was used when a parent wanted to know the truth when their child was lying to them.

"I thought you would've taken the hint some time ago already, especially since you only come bother me when Yuki's not around." Cana bit back and the pieces were slowly coming together in Gildarts' brain of what was really happening here. "I just don't get why you hover around her so much and then move on to your daughter second when she's no longer around or gets busy."

"Oh..." _**"My little girl's a bit jealous of her little girl."**_ Gildarts responded and later added as an afterthought as everything became clear to him and knew that he had been favoring attention to the little ice mage over Cana.

"Yeah, "Oh" and while you're now realizing this, can you get off of me?" Cana pushed back Gildarts from his hug, but faster than his eyes could perceive she quickly tucked away one of her cards into his pocket.

"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings sweetheart, it's just that even Yuki's had it rough and I thought that I could help her settle in even better by connecting with her like I've done with Natsu." Gildarts wasn't completely lying about this even if the other half of that reason was because she was family by blood. "I'll try to make it up to you, I promise."

Cana regarded him with a calculating eye, unsure whether or not to actually buy into his words, but in the end she sighed tiredly. "Fine, but you better keep your promise."

"You've got my word." With that the brunette rolled her eyes and Gildarts knew he was off the hook, so now he decided to just next to his daughter for the meantime as there was still forty-five minutes left before he had to be at the station with Yuki.

Although, Gildarts hadn't been very observant to notice the rushing Erza who was dragging a complaining Natsu out of the guild with a reluctant Lucy and awkward smiling Lisanna in tow. The reason being that they were going to run late for the next train arrival coming from the coast to the west. The requip mage had acquired the arrival times of the trains for this specific day and searched through the ones arriving from the Western coast, reason being that Yuki had mentioned that she came from Isvan located west of Fiore. Luckily the only train coming from that direction was arriving at eleven-thirty, which only left them about fifteen minutes to arrive in time.

If there was something Erza liked to be, it would be punctual and there wasn't a person that would refute that claim and Natsu knows first hand if you do. After trying to struggle out of being dragged along for a while, he had finally given up and let himself be taken to the station, mostly for the fact that Erza was still as scary as ever and Lisanna was giving him puppy eyes too. What the other women didn't know was that the dragon slayer wasn't up to meeting Yuki's master, mainly deriving from selfish reasons that he had which Lucy fully knew about. They had been close friends for a long time, but even she couldn't stand how childish he would become sometimes when things didn't go his way.

The one thing that was a relief for everyone was that they had made it to the station with a few minutes to spare, but they still had to go towards the other boarding platform as the one on the side facing the guild had a train coming from the North. So that's where they were now, sitting down waiting for Yuki's Master's train to arrive although the one thing that was very obvious was the fact that the little ice mage wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Hey Natsu, are you sure today was when Absolute Zero was coming to see Yuki?" Lucy questioned as the train they were waiting for could be seen approaching, but said student wasn't even present.

"Yeah I'm sure, she said that her master was coming in four days since Monday and now it's Friday so he should be here. My hearing's one of the best around so I'm positive that he'll show." The dragon slayer replied as he sat with his arms crossed in an available bench.

"Then we'll wait for him and help guide him to Fairy Tail and find Yuki there." Erza said in response to the growing inclinations that they had the wrong day.

"That's all well and good to help him, but do we even know what he looks like?" Lisanna now voiced realizing that the one major flaw they missed in preparation was the fact that they had no idea what his appearance is.

"I've got information from a reliable source that Zero likes to wear a dark cloak, metal chest plate with his name on it and he's not one to be so easily missed in a crowd." Erza stated recounting the information Crime Sorciere had given to her about what his looks were, though none of them could give her an accurate description of what his actual face looked like and Ultear seemed reluctant to add anything else.

"Is he a dark mage or the kid's master?" Natsu questioned to himself in a low mutter as he could already see what he may look like; a big guy with raven hair or some other dark color, a huge scar on the side of his face and a carefree...smile? That's when it dawned on Natsu that the appearance he was thinking about was more like a memory, one that didn't feel like a good one.

Natsu went on to ponder this over some more as he could swear that the figure he was imagining was much more than that. It felt like he was a real person, but he wasn't so sure of it himself or if he was merely confusing himself with someone else. He still sat there and continued to think this thoroughly as the others of his team simply waited around for Yuki's master to get off the train. Minutes had passed without a single sign of him and the blonde beauty had decided to strike up a conversation with Lisanna about any random topic to pass the time, which proved to be a good enough distraction for the animal soul mage as she was trying to understand why Natsu looked so deep in thought.

The waiting around was soon even getting to Erza as her legs were beginning to go numb; though she could stand for prolonged periods of time out on a mission, it was a different matter when she was in her home city. As even more time passed she had given up, positive that every person was already off the train and even she could've spotted the elusive mage herself in the small crowd that had exited the train or even sensed him out since his magical signature was quite strong from what she's been told. In the end she too decided to take a break and sat alongside the other women, now starting to believe that Natsu may have confused the dates about his arrival at this point.

"Want to call it a day? You said so yourself Erza that the only train coming from the very west coast of Fiore, nearby the closest port towards Isvan was this one here." The blonde beauty pointed towards the train beside them, slightly flinching when the whistle of the upcoming train from the North was finally arriving into the station. "Don't worry about it though, maybe we can ask Yuki about it herself so we can come along with her." Lucy said as it seemed their "welcoming party" wasn't very useful since there was no one to greet.

"You're right, my apologies everyone for making you do this. As a way of making my point of sorry, I will treat you all to lunch." At the sound of lunch, Natsu was the first to jump at the word once it left Erza's mouth.

"Alright I'm all up for Erza's apology." He cheered gleefully, but his expression soon turned to one of sternness as his nose had picked something up.

"What's wrong Natsu?" Lucy asked as she was the first to say something at how strange his behaviour had turned from his usual happiness at the prospect for food into a serious one.

"I don't really know, but there's a scent in the air. One I haven't smelled in a while, but I can remember it pretty well." He replied sniffing the air some more until he got it's general direction being on the other boarding platform across from them. "It's coming from over there, it's vaguely familiar to me but I feel like I know it. Come on!"

The dragon slayer quickly rushed to the interconnecting bridge that goes above the tracks to reach the other side, but a large crowd of people began to get in his way. Something was going on although he couldn't make out what it really was until his nose also picked up the scents of Yuki and Gildarts there too. As the rest of his team arrived beside him, they decided that it was best for them to clear the people out so that they could make it to the front of the commotion.

As for said commotion it had actually started a few minutes after the train had made the complete stop at the station. What had occurred was that once Gray had retrieved the Harbingers' luggage and gave each one of them an item to carry, the hooded mage could sense the intent of their stalkers once they started to move. The devil slayer smoothly directed the girls past the other passengers and were just a few feet from where he could spot Gildarts until another hooded figure jumped in front of him. No later did they come to a sudden stop did his tattooed and bald partner decide to make himself known behind the trio, which left Gray in a jam as he didn't want Fairy Tail to be involved, nor did he want for any innocents to get hurt.

"Madeline, Apryl get behind me right now." Zero commanded and both girls complied before the hooded mage entrapped them in a cocoon made of ice. "Alright you two, what is it that you want?"

"Come on we know you ain't that stupid." The man in front of him drawled out with a voice that seemed rather obvious of being a villain, but it was somewhat nasally and annoying to Gray.

"And I'm sure you aren't stupid to try anything either." Gray retorted as the citizens began to clear the area, but some brave onlookers stayed behind which the hooded mage could still tell as being quite a number. _**"No doubt relying on Gildarts to stop something if it gets out of hand."**_

"We're better off trying something now than leaving empty handed. We might've messed up at our earlier attempts, but we're sure we'll get something this time!" The tattooed mage behind him yelled as he charged Gray, the devil slayer easily side stepping him as he continued forward and his partner used him as a springboard to launch himself soon after.

He swirled his magic into his hands, an earth type from the looks of it in Gray's eyes, and was about to bring it down over the devil slayer's head but was stopped when his target ducked beneath him. Using his opponents over shot, Gray grabbed a hold of his attacker's leg and swung him forward and into the ground in front of him like a sledgehammer although he had to dodge the fist that was swung his way from the second attacker. They were small fry compared to the devil slayer, but the problem he was facing was the potential collateral damage around him if he wasn't careful.

He dodged another fist aimed at him and began to notice that his tattooed opponent focused his magic into his hands, most likely boosting the power behind every attack he threw. With careful timing, the devil slayer managed to freeze the bald man's hands together before kicking his legs right from under him and creating ice restraints to hold him down on the ground. With one down he looked to the floor behind him only to find that the hooded dark mage was gone, but turned his attention to the cry of help as he now noticed where the enemy was.

The dark mage's hood fell revealing his insanely colored hair that was made up of bright neon green and Gray then moved his gaze down to his arm where he held an opened magic infused palm towards the neck of an innocent girl. Although it was who the girl was that worried Gray as he could recognize the brunette hair anywhere and the face belonging to the once little girl who looked up to him like an elder brother. Carrie Cromwell, a now seventeen year old girl was being held hostage because of Gray's carelessness and would no doubt regret it his entire life if something were to happen to her. She was like family to him, even if she has no recollection of who he was as she too was a person the devil slayer knew had their mind blocked of his existence.

"Alight Zero surrender right in front of me, release my associate and hand over the lovely ladies under your care unless you want something to happen to this hot little number." The bright colored haired dark mage began to make perverted faces to Carrie which made her plea even more for someone to help her, although the citizens themselves were weary of getting caught up in the danger.

"Fine... I'll accept your surrender."

The dark mage barely had any time to utter a sound of confusion before Zero swiped his left hand rapidly and instantaneously froze the dark mage solid. No one had even seen what had just happened and Carrie herself barely began to register the sudden drop of temperature near her before she turned her head to see her captor as nothing more than an ice statue. Even Gildarts had a tough time seeing Gray's movements as an instantaneous attack like that was very rare to come by, especially on the scale that he could see of completely solidifying a person into ice.

"It's alright, he won't hurt you now. Please join the rest of crowd." Gray asked Carrie and she numbly nodded her head as she slipped from underneath the hold she was in and joined into the safety of the crowd.

The devil slayer knew with the danger dealt with he freed the sisters from their protective cocoon, but before Gray could even begin to interrogate the restrained dark mage on the floor and have everyone go about their business, a figure from within the crowd jumped incredibly high into the air with a flaming fist aiming right for his head.

"Master!" Yuki called out noticing the surprise attack and was glad that her master heard her as he immediately turned around.

Gray struck his palm out to catch the flaming fist of his former rival, causing a minor shock wave as both powers of fire and ice clashed against each other. The devil slayer knew that his old rival would want to fight him as a challenge just by the display he had done, but the face he showed was completely different from the one he expected. Natsu's face was filled with nothing more than anger and hints of hatred as he tried to counter and use the momentum to follow up with another blow, but Gray could tell what he was trying to do and mustered his strength to toss him to one side. The dragon slayer back flipped after being tossed by the hooded mage and landed back on his feet only to charge again with a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, but before he was a foot away from striking distance Gildarts stepped in and caught his fist himself.

Natsu looked up bewildered that the crash mage had intercepted him and was met with a look of disapproval from the orange haired man as the rest of his team had finally made it to the front of the crowd. They too had no idea as to why Natsu all of a sudden charged at a random mage, but it was Erza who stood in silence as she had now realized who he had attacked. With his towering form nearly a half to a head taller than Jellal from what Erza could perceive, the hooded mage went up to thank Gildarts for the assist and turned to look at Yuki. It was astonishing to see how bright the young ice mage could smile from the scarlet haired woman's experience and fully believed that this is her master; Absolute Zero. He turned to face the Fairy Tail wizards as Gildarts was still trying to hold Natsu back and walked up to the armored woman, his face still shadowed underneath his hood and with Yuki at his side.

"So you must be the Great Titania; Erza Scarlet." The hooded mage stuck his hand out for a handshake and Erza immediately shook it in return, although Gray couldn't lie that he was having some amount of fun messing with her in this way. "A pleasure to meet the next head of Fairy Tail."

"And to you as well, we have heard a lot about you Absolute Zero. Yuki's told us about your numerous adventures together before she came to become one of us." Erza replied as her diplomatic side came into play and had to recover from Natsu's earlier outburst. "Please accept my humble apologies for my guild mate's behaviour and the unprovoked attack against you."

"It's fine, these things tend to happen from time to time. Wouldn't be the first time someone's tried to prove something by fighting me." Zero replied although he knew he might've riled Natsu even more with that comment. "If I may ask, would it be fine if I left these two with you?" Gray pointed towards the dark mages he had defeated and Erza nodded her head in acceptance.

"It will be of no problem, we'll have the Rune Knights take them away as soon as possible." She replied although she had never seen such types of low class dark mages as them before.

"Alright, but try to get some information out of them. These two are a pair of low end dark mages from Bosco that have been tailing us for quite sometime already." The hooded mage then pointed to the two young women that looked a little out of place, their somewhat upper class attire being a dead give away.

"We'll see what we can do." She replied and the taller mage nodded his head before snapping his fingers and releasing the two dark mages, but made sure to knock them unconscious before they started causing more problems.

"That's all I ask." Zero nodded to her and turned his head down to look at Yuki who had begun tugging his sleeve to get his attention as she then pointed towards Lucy. Gray knew what she was trying to tell him and decided to signal for the Harbinger sisters to come over for this one.

"Master Zero don't forget to greet the others too," Yuki reminded him as he gave a short chuckle in response to her and moved over towards the curvy blonde, "One of them is your favorite author after all." She added in a whisper and he gave a half smile at her attempt to be subtle.

"From the way Yuki's been telling me you must be Lucy Heartfilia, correct?" He repeated the action he did with Erza and the blonde nervously chuckled as she shook his hand.

"That's me alright, kind of surreal to have someone who enjoys my work and can take one of Natsu's punches shake my hand." Lucy said and realized that she knew about his interest in her work, most likely catching him off guard. "Yuki's told me about you liking my books and how it's through you that she found interest in them too."

"I enjoy a good read, my old library's got dozens of works from the past although I have yet to update it aside from your books." Zero replied and Lucy fet rather flattered that her works were newer additions to his collection compared to others that had been released from her fellow authors. "And you are, miss?" The hooded mage asked as he turned to look at Lisanna, but she stared at him oddly for some reason.

"Oh I'm sorry, my name is Lisanna Dragneel," The white haired woman said after staring at him for a bit of time without saying anything. "I'm sure you've gotten to know my rather straight forward husband Natsu and would like to also say sorry for his sudden outburst." She bowed her head apologetically and Zero merely waved it off kindly.

"It's no trouble at all, but I've got to ask if there is something on me? You've been looking at me rather strangely."

"Oh no there's nothing on you, it's just that I could've sworn I've met you before." Lisanna knew she had seen him somewhere, his armor was a very strong indicator of that because of the name imprinted on it alone, but she was drawing a bit of a blank.

"I don't think so, this is my first visit to Magnolia although I am an acquaintance of the current guild master; Makarov Dreyar." Gray replied calmly, noticing that he was cutting it close with Lisanna almost recognizing him although he couldn't concentrate on that as a cough from behind him gained his attention. "I forgot to also introduce my companions, they are the former ladies of the house of Harbinger; Madeline and Apryl."

They both gave polite bows in the similar manner that they've been taught to do for so many years, but it was Lucy who had the sense that she remembered the name Harbinger. As both Madeline and Apryl had also come to recognize the family name of Heartfilia from the blonde beauty, but both couldn't comment as Zero began to speak again.

"I know I may be overstating a boundary Ms. Heartfilia, but I do believe that you may be a good example for these girls." He said and all the women looked at him confusedly at his words, but this was a part of Gray's plan for the former heiresses to start out their new life. "I've read your autobiography and believe it or not, these young ladies have found themselves in a bit of a similar situation."

"Please call me Lucy and it just goes to show how the upstanding wealth acts with their own bloodline, even today compared to what I've been through so many years ago." The blonde had forgiven her father, bit it still left a sour taste in her mouth at the idea that such practices are still at play in the world. "Still though, if they are fine with it then I can tell them a few things to help them out."

"If Absolute Zero believes that you can help us then we'll gladly accept." Madeline spoke up as she had discussed it with Apryl beforehand while the blonde was still answering.

"That's good to hear, but for now we'll go with my student as she wishes to show us around the city for a bit." Gray said as the little ice mage herself was trying her hardest not to act so gleefully as she wanted to since her image was already morphing in the eyes of Erza's team. "Until we meet again Fairy Tail, goodbye." The hooded mage began to walk away, grabbing a hold of the luggage he had discarded and began to follow after Yuki as she walked rather happily in front of the group.

As soon as they started leaving, Gildarts approached the team with him holding tightly onto Natsu who was still trying to break free and rush Zero. With a bit of struggling, the crash mage passed the rowdy dragon slayer over to Erza who held a tight grip on the pink haired young man to make sure he didn't run off as she spoke to the ace of Fairy Tail. He of course more than happy to let his hands cool off after being heated for so long.

"Please keep an eye on him Erza, Gramps told me to watch over Yuki while her master was in town." He said, checking to see if any of his gears had been melted in his prosthetic arm and heaved a relaxed sigh when everything was still intact.

"Will do Gildarts, but you must hurry as she seems to have continued to walk off without you. Most likely caught up with having her master around again." The requip mage said amused at the young ice mage's sudden surge of happiness.

With that the crash mage bade them farewell as he rushed off to catch up with the others and Erza released her grip on Natsu as he sat on the floor with an anger induced pout. The scarlet haired woman began tapping her boot in wait as she wanted an explanation and Lisanna began urging him to speak up. He seemed to refuse to her words and Lucy had also joined in to get him to talk before Erza had decided that his time was up.

"Natsu explain yourself this instant. Why did you randomly attack Yuki's master?" She allowed him to speak, but was met with silence and before she had to get physical with him he stood up again.

"It's because he isn't who he says he is!" He exclaimed with his anger ever so present and it was the first time seeing the pink haired slayer so angry in quite a while.

"What do you mean by that Natsu?" Lucy asked as she didn't see anything wrong with him, not to mention that this was the first time they met the man.

"I mean that he's not telling us who he really is, but I do." His team looked at him expectantly and he was fully aware that the information he knew would get them to see it his way. "I didn't know if it was him or not, but after he froze that guy like nothing that's when I knew who he was."

"Don't keep us in suspense Natsu, tell us who he is." Lisanna asked her husband, but was confused when he pointed at her.

"But you know who he is too Lisanna, try to remember back when we were captured by Tartaros. That one guy who came by to give you a blanket and some cold water." Natsu tried to help jog her memory and when the face of realization dawned on her, the dragon slayer knew that she remembered about it.

"Do you really think it's him?" Lisanna asked worriedly as she believed that part of their past was already behind them, especially after Alvarez, Tartaros and the struggle they went through during both of those events.

"I wasn't sure at first, but by the way his scent was, how he carried himself and by how he used his magic told me it is him. I can never forget that hand movement when he used it against me." Although Natsu didn't clearly see the whole action of that past Absolute Zero, he summarized how he did it before he was completely frozen over.

"Care to shed some light about this our way you two?" Erza asked with her arms crossed and the pink and white haired couple barely realized that only they were the ones throughout that part in time.

"Right, my bad. What I was pointing out was that Yuki's master is someone much more dangerous." Natsu was met with a raised eyebrow from Erza and a still confused look from Lucy, meaning he had to elaborate even more for them. "I've got no doubt in saying that Absolute Zero is a dark mage."

"What!?" The requip mage was the first to outwardly question Natsu's claim as it was an outrageous accusation of one of their comrade's master.

"That's not even the half of it, the worst part of it is that I'm sure he is a former member of Tartaros. Even an Etherious as far as we know since Natsu and I are positive that he was one of the Nine Demon Gates." Lisanna added and it registered to Lucy how much the city was really in danger if one of Zeref's demons from his book was still active.

"There's no way that's possible, they all used Curse power and we sensed his magic radiating off of him." Erza countered, but even she knew that it could be some sort of ability that he may posses to throw them off his trail.

"Does it matter at this point!? We've got an Etherious in the city, but we're lucky that Gildarts is with them. He can hold him off, but I ain't gonna let that guy get away without me making sure he isn't coming back." The dragon slayer claimed as he lit his fist in flames, but the rest of his team understood that he wanted to clean up after his brother's mess.

"Alright then, Lucy and Natsu will go tail after them. Lisanna you will stay with me until we hand these two over to the Rune Knights, they must have gone after Absolute Zero for a reason besides for the two young women he brought along with him." Erza commanded her team as they needed to move out quickly and the armored woman knew that the interrogation was going to be done by her as the two dark mages were the likely accomplices from wherever Zero had hidden himself away.

"You can count on us Erza!" Natsu exclaimed as he went off following the lingering scent that the group had left behind with Lucy making the comment; "Here we go again..," as she ran after Natsu and his powerful sense of smell.

 _ **I will not allow my family to suffer from the wrath of Tartaros again Absolute Zero even if you are Yuki's master, Fairy Tail will put a stop to both you and any of your dastardly plans you have in store."**_ Erza thought to herself assuredly as she watched the figures of Lucy and Natsu shrink as they ran in the direction Yuki had walked off to.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Thanks for reading the chapter and for those who may not know; Carrie Cromwell is an OC I made in my other work, EP and AIM, who plays a bit as a little sister to Gray (though she doesn't come out often) and I wanted her to be brought along to this story as well. I may include some of my other characters too in the future, but it's still undecided and with that I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Until next time!_


	13. A Partial Truth

A Partial Truth

Lucy was not one who was big on the whole spying business thing, aside from being terrible at it, she couldn't find it in herself to intrude on personal ongoings that dealt with her guildmates. To say her partner was an even better spy would be totally wrong as the dragon slayer was never one for stealth, the closest thing he could get to it was using his scarf like a makeshift mask. Still though, there was a major threat to both Magnolia and Fairy Tail right in front of them who had casually walked past them not even ten minutes ago. The blonde herself had kept a small amount of her fear of the Etherious within her, especially for the fact that the dog like Etherious, Jackal, was still loose somewhere in Earth Land.

Knowing that a fellow Demon Gate member of his is standing beside three innocent people and Gildarts worried her to the possibilities of the hooded man using this as all a front to scope out their defenses. Erza trusted her to follow after Natsu since she was capable of keeping him in line for something as covert as this, using the term loosely of course. That didn't mean that Lisanna was incapable of doing the task either, but it was mainly due in part that he'd only focus on her safety a bit too much without the others for backup to watch over her. Speaking of said fire dragon slayer, she quickly pulled him by the scarf and into an alley as they were getting too close and Natsu was already bound to attack Zero again.

"Natsu wait, they walked into that cafe over there." Lucy pointed towards a quaint family run cafe as the girls walked in while Zero and Gildarts waited outside with the luggage.

"If only I can tell the old geezer who he's standing next to, then he could go to town on that bastard." Natsu complained as he was still being held back by Lucy, so he wouldn't stick his head out around the corner.

"Well we can't without drawing attention to ourselves, but do you think you can hear what they're talking about?" Lucy asked as she noticed Gildarts talking to the hooded mage rather friendly she might add, although that could mainly stem off from just welcoming Yuki's master.

"I know I can, but keep quiet so I can focus." Natsu hushed as he tuned out all other sounds as best he could, concentrating in the direction of the two.

Gildarts regarded Gray by first name once the girls had gone inside, but Natsu hadn't caught that bit and simply asked how he was doing. The hooded mage replied that he was doing alright given the circumstances back at the train station, though the orange haired mage laughed at how foreseeable it was for Natsu to react in that manner. Said mage was confused at how Gildarts foresaw his actions and a part of him hoped that the older man had caught on to who Zero was.

It was simple back and forth chatter that held no meaning for the majority of the time, but he found it irritating that Zero was letting out his magical power for anyone to feel, like he was some big shot until Yuki and the two girls came right back out. They took their seats and whatever conversation Gildarts and the hooded mage were having was cut short once Yuki started talking to them, much to Natsu's dismay as it sounded like they were getting finished with all the boring talk. It bummed him out that there was nothing to note and now he and Lucy were stuck waiting for them to finish having lunch.

Though at the table, Gray had become aware of Natsu's magical signature when he had the oddest sense that he was being followed again. At first he thought there was a third dark mage he missed, but as he felt out the presence he noticed that it was much more powerful than a simple low classed tailer. The devil slayer knew that when sensing out magical energies around him, it was also like a beacon of where he was and knew that whoever it was near them would be sensing him too. It was only until he noticed the second magical signature that he realized that he was wrong as this one was much more lighter, though still powerful. It seemed that this one was actually trying to hide with the first signature and that was when he saw the recognizable tuft of pink hair which notified him of whom were his pursuers.

It was by the help of someone opening a reflective glass door at the right angle down the street that his assumption was right. Hiding in a nearby alleyway, leaning closely to the side of the building before turning its corner were his former pink and blonde haired teammates. Judging by how Lucy was holding onto his scarf, Natsu must have been listening on his conversation with Gildarts even though there wasn't much there. It wasn't long until Yuki arrived that he simply let it go, but if he knew Natsu then he was stubborn enough not to leave. He had to do something since the crash mage has been giving off signs that he wants to speak in private with him, but can't if the dragon slayer was listening in on them.

He had a plan for this sort of situation, although he had only done this a few times before, it would suffice to get the job done. Within an instant he had already prepared his ice clone spell and used his warp magic to immediately launch himself into the air while the clone took his place so he could land on the roof of the building Natsu and Lucy were hiding behind. It seemed that the dragon slayer was none the wiser of the sudden change and Gray was glad that it worked, since he's only used that tactic to confuse his enemies and gain the upper hand in combat.

"What's wrong Natsu? Did something happen?" Lucy asked as he looked strange to her and the devil slayer could tell that the pink haired slayer must have picked up on something he hadn't accounted for.

"No he just sat down, but it's like his scent just grew a lot stronger now." Natsu replied as the scent was moderate at best from their current distance, but now it seemed to have grown strong enough that it was like if it was right on top of them.

"You have quite the keen nose there, Salamander." Gray spoke up, his gruff voice catching the two off guard as he jumped down into the alley alongside them. Natsu immediately jumping in front of Lucy with his fist in flames, staring at the hooded mage with anger.

"There's still Hell to pay for what you and Tartaros did to our guild five years ago!" Natsu exclaimed as he hadn't forgotten what they did to any of them and was more than willing to get justice out of Zero.

"Now that's interesting, I don't recall ever joining Tartaros." Gray placed the pieces together as fast as he could in order to realize that Natsu was talking about his father, but there wasn't a point in time that Silver ever battled Fairy Tail directly, just with him.

"Don't lie to me, you Etherious bastard!" Natsu charged first as he aimed a flaming punch straight for Zero's face, but the hooded mage reacted fast and caught his fist as he froze his flames solid before they shattered around their hands.

"Come now, no need to be so violent." Gray did his best to keep his voice hidden under his guise as a lot of trouble could occur if he were to be found out, but it wouldn't mean that he'd walk away from a chance to spar with the dragon slayer after so long. "You don't want to make your wife apologize a second time on your behalf, do you?"

With an angered snarl, Natsu tried to follow up with Dragon Talon on Zero though the hooded mage reacted again and crossed his arms in an x fashion to stop his attack over his head. The pink haired young man wasn't exuding his full power in worry of the city and the enclosed space they were in, although Natsu also knew that Zero hadn't pushed out any of his either. As they stared each other down, Lucy herself was unsure of what to make of this as they were both powerful individuals with opposite elements who no doubt were trying not to destroy the city. What confused her most of all was the fact that Zero sounded genuine when he said he didn't remember joining Tartaros.

"Let's be civilized? You're a respected mage among your people and I the same in Isvan." Zero began as he put his hands at his sides though Natsu still had them at the ready, but Lucy decided to stand alongside him at this point. "Lucy, maybe you can act as negotiator on this one. I don't think Salamander is stable nor capable enough not to attack me while I try to explain myself."

"Refrain from insulting my guild mate and maybe I'll consider it." Lucy replied slightly angered that Zero had the gall to mock one of her friends right in front of her.

"Fair enough I suppose," He replied as the dragon slayer allowed his flames to vanish although he was still at the ready, "though I'd like to know why you associate me with them?"

"Don't even bother listening to him Lucy, since he'll just keep lying to us anyways." Natsu stated as he sneered in Zero's way, his complete distaste of his kind coming out in full force. "Trust me when I say that his scent is like the one I picked up when me and Lisanna were being held prisoner."

"It's not like I don't believe you Natsu, but let's hear him out. You never know if we've got the wrong person and they simply came from the same place." The blonde reasoned to him and Gray mentally nodded to the fact that one could leave it to Lucy to reason with the Hot Head.

"Fine then; first question, who the Hell are you?" The pink haired slayer asked, although it sounded more like a demand and Lucy didn't bother to correct him on his tone since he could be right on this one.

"I've long since renounced the name I had. I've usually gone by nick names until I picked up the title of Absolute Zero." The hooded mage replied, although Gray was coming up with the answers as he went since he had to lead them away from discovering his true identity.

"That's stupid, everyone has a name." Natsu commented and Gray merely rolled his eyes beneath his hood as it was the best sort of comeback to his answer that he'd get for now.

"I have my reasons like anyone else."

"Moving on; second question, why are you really here?" Lucy tried to find any sign of reaction as it would be a good enough indicator that they were cutting it close to his plans.

"At first I was going to drop off the Harbinger sisters here and leave them in your guild's care until I noticed that we were being followed and decided that I'd make this both a business and personal trip." He replied although he had to be cautious as his ice clone needed his control so no one noticed that he was gone, yet he was sure that Gildarts was already aware of that.

"Alright Zero, why did you lie that this was your first visit to Magnolia?" Natsu questioned with a hard glare and Lucy looked at him in confusion of his words since it didn't make sense as this was truly his first visit.

"Quite surprising that you caught me red handed on that one." Zero replied with a now visible smirk on his face before falling back to a neutral expression. "But you're right, this isn't my first time coming to Magnolia."

"Told you Lucy, he was lying to us! Now tell us what you were doing back then and why you're here now!" Natsu exclaimed as Lucy tried once again to hold him back before he provoked a big fight that could end drastically for the city.

"He'll tell us his reasons so calm down Natsu and Zero's already told us why he's here this time." Lucy couldn't believe how much the dragon slayer was wanting to fight the hooded mage and this wasn't even a friendly spar, more like a final battle.

"One thing that Salamander had claimed about me was true, I came here five years ago while a battle was being waged on the outskirts of Magnolia." Zero spoke up and both Fairy Tail mages knew he was talking about their final battle against Tartaros. "To give a quick history about me all I will say is that I spent years honing my skills to seek out revenge for what one of that dark guild's members had done to my hometown. A source of mine had gotten word that a situation was brewing in Fiore and I sought out Fairy Tail to get help in finding that accursed guild. Needless to say that I found what I was looking for once I arrived here."

Gray was trying his best to make his story believable and the only way he was going to do that was by adding elements from his real past into the fake one he was creating. The more he built upon who he supposedly was the better that a connection won't be made, but he had to be weary of how far he'd dig himself down before everything comes crashing on top of him. At the moment he was doing fine, but he had to strive to keep it as real as possible from this point onward.

"I went off to see what was happening and that was when I came face to face with a lone figure who was standing a ways away from the main battle overlooking everything. When I saw his face, I couldn't believe what had become of him and I now know why Salamander confused me with this other person."

"Then tell us, it's super annoying when people keep us in suspense." Natsu complained, but Lucy couldn't be bothered by it as this must be the defining moment of something major that happened to him while they fought to save Fiore and magic as they knew it.

"That man you confused me for was my father." Natsu was about to make a comment before he realized that Zero's father was a Demon Gate without his knowledge and Lucy remained silent as it never occurred to her that his parent would fall so low. "I thought him dead for so many years after my town's destruction which left me the only survivor, but he stood in front of me in the flesh, yet I was still right about his death."

"What do you mean, it's obvious that the person who destroyed your hometown was your own dad." Natsu intensively said without realizing it before Lucy harshly jabbed him in the side for his comment.

"Natsu!" She wanted to reprimand him for what he said as she couldn't put it past Zero that he must have cared for his father deeply.

"It's okay, he played on my town's destruction so he could free me from the horrors that followed me after that day. Although the real monster behind my home's destruction was long dead thanks to the sacrifice of one Ur in Brago." Zero continued as the mages before him had realized that he was talking about Deliora and knew that its terror had made many lose so much. "After a long gruelling battle I defeated my father, but I couldn't kill him like he wanted me to even if he was a resurrected corpse."

 _ **"Oh no..."**_ Lucy easily recognized the last part of his sentence as the necromancer, Keyes if she remembered correctly, was there battling Juvia before he was destroyed by her.

"When the necromancer who brought him back was killed, he told me that he could finally rest in peace knowing that his son still lived and slowly disappeared right before me." Zero fell silent then and not even Natsu could make a comment as he knew all too well of losing a father as he witnessed Igneel being killed by Acnologia. "He left me a parting gift before he rejoined my mother and I just sat there for hours thinking back of all that has happened to me. It was then that I met Master Makarov when he noticed the iced over battlefield my father and I fought on."

"I'm sorry for making you relive old memories Zero." Lucy apologized as she hadn't expected his history to be intertwined with theirs all those years ago.

"Don't worry about it, accepting your past is the first step to obtaining the future you want." He replied as he turned his hooded head to look at Natsu, the blonde also noticing that his fist was still clenched after all that.

"If Gramps found you then he would've asked you what was wrong, he could've helped you with your problems!" The aging master was always a source of great wisdom for anyone and though Makarov was old, he is a great light in the guild many are grateful to know which Natsu was more than positive he could've helped Zero.

"Living a life of solitude causes a person to become isolated from another's kindness, it's foreign to people like me." Zero replied, crossing his arms which only further drove the dragon slayer to be irritated with the hooded mage's attitude. "But I will say that in the brief moments I interacted with your guild master, I've been given a new clarity on my life."

"Then if he never found you or the guild wasn't disbanded back then, what would've happened to you?" Lucy asked as a part within her had the strongest feeling that his life could've changed if he joined them, became a part of their accepting guild and family.

"Nothing would've changed...I would still go off hunting the rogue demons that still thrive on Earth Land, but I wouldn't understand the concept of another person's kindness." The hooded mage said in a solemn voice which felt like an echo to a lost soul wandering the world to Lucy. "Although if your guild was still active after the events of your battle, then maybe I would've considered the idea of joining."

His answer had actually surprised the pink and blonde duo as the morbid air he was creating with his words seemed to part with what sounded like hope. It caught them off guard that he would've joined Fairy Tail and been one of them all those years ago; however, some things don't work out like that in the real world. Lucy herself was at a loss of their purpose now, which she knew she could also speak for Natsu as the pink haired slayer's anger seemed to have had dissipated entirely.

"Life has an amusing way of shaping one's future, but maybe it was fate that made me turn my back to Fiore and continue my days in Isvan and the Northern countries." Zero spoke up again and this time Natsu had been curious of what he meant by that. "After all, many lives would've remained in danger if I had not cleared out those demons and the scars I bear serve to remind me that I have purpose."

"Purpose or not, you don't need some scar to tell you that you have a reason to live." Natsu remarked as he too has scars that litter his body with the prominent one being the one that goes across his right cheek.

"I guess you right Salamander but I don't mind having scars, it's the ones you can't see that sting." Natsu felt a twinge of annoyance at the cool remark Zero had just said as if he was trying to show him up, but Lucy had a different experience to it. "Bearing the deeper rooted ones gives me purpose to go on for what I've lost in my past."

The blonde heard what he had added at the end, but her mind continued to play his last sentence over and over again. It sounded so familiar to her, like someone had said to her before although she couldn't put her finger on it. She tried to think as hard as she could of where it come from, but it felt like there was a mental block that wouldn't allow her to go any further. She gave in to the block and instead tried to use her imagination to recreate some scenario where she heard that saying until it came clear to her.

Lucy felt a wave of shock pass through her as the image of her character popped up into her mind, cross legged right next to her as she examined his face before he said that line. It was surreal that her imagination had conjured such a thing up and wanted to outwardly comment of the unbelievability of it all, but to who could she even speak to. Natsu was no help with understanding the value of what she thought up of and Zero was a bit of a stranger to tell him about it, even if he was the one who said it.

"Yeah well, we've all got something we carry in our hearts and it'll just make us stronger knowing that we keep movin' forward and remember those we care about along the way." Natsu grinned as he crossed his arms, satisified that he could also say something cool and has a heartfelt meaning, but hadn't expected for Zero to chuckle at his words.

"Don't mind me, it's just that I was right in sending Yuki here. I'm leaving her in your care, you and your guild are what she really needs." Zero commented as he began to walk past them and right back onto the street, turning to look at them from over his shoulder. "Come and join us, it's the least I could do for taking up your time. It's on me."

"If you're buyin' I'm all in! Come on Luce, Zero's giving us free food!" Leave it to Natsu to readily forgive and forget with a sealed deal of food, but Lucy coudn't shake her earlier thoughts as she watched the hooded mage's back.

The busty blonde knew she had a wild imagination if her books are any indication of it, but whatever that was earlier was too vivid to be mere fantasy. It felt like a trigger to something and it bothered her that there wasn't enough information for her to get a good grasp of what was happening to her. She had to speak with Erza on that at a later time now that she accepted Zero's offer, since she was following behind the two, and felt a bit bad for intruding on Yuki's time with her master.

As for said little brunette, she was miffed that the Flame Brain was now planning on ordering whatever he wanted as her master was paying for everyone, but she let it go as Lucy had also come along. With the blonde there, conversation with the two Harbinger sisters wasn't going to be so awkward like it was once she found out that it was her master's ice clone sitting in his seat. She chose this cafe because it was run by one of the nicest families she had ever met, the Cromwells, and came here often to get their secret menu sundae. The little ice mage wanted her master to try some of it to show that her favorite dessert wasn't just a joke since she was an ice mage like him.

Though there was bonus points because her master had unknowingly saved the owners' only daughter from danger. Yuki of course was not aware of the fact that Gray had ties to the family years ago, so he knew who he was saving in an instant. The surprise was quite evident on Carrie's face when her savior had turned up at her parents' cafe when she came out to take their order and continued even further when she found out that he was one of their regular's master.

"And I want the Double Chocolate Talker Sundae please Carrie." Yuki said as the teen was busy jotting down the rest of Natsu's order which was basically doubles of half of the menu, thankfully it wasn't a very big menu.

"I said I will buying, but you need real food in your system squirt." Zero said in a playful manner which earned him a blush from the young ice mage at the embarrassing nickname in front of her guildmates, but it had another effect as well.

Carrie felt slightly dizzy for a quick second as if her whole world was spun around a few times and clutched her head in pain as if something was trying to break free. Everyone had worried looks for their young waitress, but Gray was well aware that he hadn't been careful with his words again. He realized this when he spoke to Natsu earlier and now he just hoped that Carrie will merely waved this off because of stress from today's events. After a minute of worrying over the brunette and Gray standing up ready to catch her if she fell over, Carrie gave a meek laugh and said she was alright.

This event was enough to tell Gray that whatever Mest had done wasn't thorough enough as the devil slayer speculated that the greater the connection he had with a person, the more likely something will trigger their memory. He and Carrie shared a sibling bond in a sense and cared for her like she was really his litter sister, so he needed to take much more caution with anyone else he interacted with. Now he regretted what he said to the dragon slayer before as it may have triggered something in Lucy, but he had to hope it wasn't enough for her to question things. Oh how wrong he was as the blonde celestial mage was already at the level of questioning things, one being her own vivid imagination.

In any case, their lunch went as peaceful as possible after Carrie's little spell with the exception that the owners' themselves came out to thank Zero personally for saving their daughter's life. They had offered to give him and Yuki a fifty percent discount on anything they ordered for life and their current meal was on the house. Gray, who had known both Terrence and Alice Cromwell for quite a long time, couldn't bring himself to agree to their offer although he forgot how persuasive they were together. In the end he agreed to it, but had managed to talk them into letting him pay for their current meal since even Natsu's order wasn't going to put a dent into his savings.

So while Natsu ate away his mountain of food, Yuki tried her best not to be disgusted by him and Lucy talking with the two Harbinger sisters, Gildarts had seen this as an opportune moment to speak with Gray in private. He excused himself from the table and asked the hooded mage to accompany him, of course Yuki was about to argue with him leaving but Gray had managed to ease her into the fact that they needed to speak. She wasn't fond of the idea with so many interruptions on the day they were going to spend together, but the devil slayer had promised that after his talk then he was all hers. The young brunette begrudgingly agreed and so two of the three power houses sitting at the table had gotten up and walked away.

The crash mage didn't know where to start as this was the first time either of them had seen each other in four years, Hell it was barely a few days ago that Gildarts discovered that Gray was banished from the guild. He walked in silence as Gray moved through the streets surprisingly well given to the fact that he hadn't been back in years and lead them to a hill which sloped down towards the stone barrier that helped the river flow smoothly. It was very much similar to the one he sat alongside Erza when he caught her crying all those years ago, but that very well could be a dream at this point now. The devil slayer had never thought he'd be back to his old home and truth be told, he was a little over weighed with old emotions about Magnolia.

The hooded mage stood in companionable silence with Gildarts, the very first Fairy Tail mage he had ever met and wondered how disappointed he was with him after all these years. He couldn't blame him for being angry with him, knowing that he was probably saving face by acting like a neutral party in all this while he was secretly burning with anger inside. So Gray was only waiting for him to say the first words and see where their conversation would lead from there.

Unbeknownst to the two was that they were being watched from afar by a bikini clad card mage who was strolling through the area for a walk to get out of the guild. She had run into Erza earlier, who had asked if she had seen Lucy and Natsu because they were tailing a dangerous individual that was walking alongside Yuki and her father. The brunette apologized to her that she hadn't seen them and wondered who that dangerous person was, but as she continued to walk on and noticed her father nearby she then put the pieces together. From where Cana was looking at them, they seemed like friends taking in the sights by the river although she herself couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss there.

The little ice mage, Natsu and Lucy were nowhere in sight so she could only assume that they lost them somewhere and took it upon herself to keep a watchful eye in case things went south. Cana had no idea what her old man was doing with the hooded individual and couldn't risk getting closer to find out lest she get caught in the act. That's when a mumbling voice began to emanate from her fuzzy purse and remembered stashing a communication card in Gildarts' pocket a while ago. Quickly pulling it out she tried to catch up on what the two were talking about, even if the voices were slightly muffled so she couldn't get a good grasp on the other person's voice.

 _"...I just can't believe that I never knew about it until then."_ Cana heard her father's voice finally as it took a while for things to get clear enough for her to hear.

 _"I simply packed what I needed and left without looking back. I thought you would've returned sometime sooner so they could tell you what happened, but I guess I was wrong."_ The hooded person said in a rather apologetic tone to Gildarts, though Cana didn't know enough to get what they were talking about. _"I know you're disappointed for what I've done so there's no need to keep quiet about it."_

 _"Yeah I am, after all that you've been through and have experienced just for it to lead to one final act of revenge and fail terribly was not what I had expected from you. I thought you were above that, but I can't complain about it anymore since it's been four years since then."_ Now that got Cana's attention as something had happened between them four years ago, which could mean a number of things since it was a very difficult time back then. _"But I can't stay mad at you because there must have been things we could've done to stop you."_

 _ **"We?"**_ The brunette thought to herself as this meant that there was another group or person involved with the hooded individual.

 _"Some things don't work out like a person plans them to. I've long since moved on from then and just hope no one suffers for my mistakes."_ Whoever it was that Gildarts was talking too had given Cana the impression that he regrets a major event in their past for what they've done, most likely dealing with this revenge they did that failed. _"I'm leading a new life and even then I put someone I cared about in danger."_

 _"You mean Yuki don't you. She's told me what happened and she doesn't blame you one bit about it, says that she knew the risks in becoming your student."_ Immediately Cana had realized that the person her father was speaking to was Yuki's master she met back in Iceburg. _"But that's another thing I wanted to talk to you about, when were you going to tell me that she was mine?"_

"You've got to be kidding me..." The brunette said as an unidentified feeling was building up inside her at what her father said. Was all the time he was spending with Yuki just because she was actually his second daughter? That he wanted to redo every past mistake he did with her with his much younger daughter. "No wonder he thought Yuki was me."

If she tried to label the feeling she was experiencing at that point, Cana would dub it betrayal as she never expected Gildarts to cast her out like that. Sure he would still love her unconditionally, but it hurt all the same that he was trying again with another girl. Though now the card mage took notice that the little ice mage was in fact her half sister, which it may have been great news before now feels bitter in her heart. She couldn't believe that the one thing she wanted to do at that point was cry, not wanting to listen in anymore for what they were talking about until Yuki's master Zero gave a short chuckle.

 _"So the old man told you, huh? If it was the only thing to calm you down then I can't blame him for using it as a last resort."_ So even Master Makarov knew about this, just when Cana thought there was at least one adult she could talk to that wouldn't keep a secret behind her back. _"I was planning on telling you myself about her, but I knew we would've needed a large enough space for that."_

 _"I missed both their births, so I don't have room to feel any anger at you for that one."_ Gildarts had actually sounded sad to Cana and just tried to ignore the feeling of tearing up the card and getting herself drunk to feel even a little bit better. _"I've been wanting to tell her and the guild all about it and embrace her as my family, but the masters said that I need to keep things under wraps for a while."_

 _"It would seem fair since the only true family she had before joining Fairy Tail were her adopted parents before she ended up with that douchebag of a stepfather."_ The brunette calmed herself as best she could so she could follow their current conversation and Absolute Zero seemed to know plenty about Yuki's true family heritage.

 _"Don't count yourself out either, you raised her yourself for two years once she became your student."_ Well if Cana wanted to be honest, Zero did seem to be like a father to her when she first met them and wouldn't have been surprised if he really was.

 _"Point taken, but I'm just a freelance mage taking care of his apprentice and when the time comes she'll be standing with her mother who is a recognized S-class mage in a very prominent guild in this country."_ Zero replied and that gave Cana a standing point to discover who Gildarts was with that helped bring Yuki into the world.

 _"The sooner she learns about Yuki the sooner I'll be a happy man. I mean the trick of all this is that we're unsure if she'll be ready to discover the truth about Yuki."_ Gildarts tip toeing around the identity of the mysterious woman he slept with was grating on Cana's nerves as it is and she didn't know how much more she could take it. She was a swirling vortex of emotions at the moment and Absolute Zero's conversation with her old man wasn't helping anything.

 _"Do you really think she wants to know? For both of them, I mean Yuki is still unaware of who are her birth parents and thinks that they are from Isvan when one of them is from Fiore."_ Another clue for Cana as her old man was a born and raised citizen from Fiore, so she needed to find an S-class bimbo from Isvan that was in a guild here in Fiore.

 _"Of course they do! Once Yuki discovers that I'm her grandfather then she'll know her mother is Cana and my baby girl can have her baby girl in her arms again and we can be a happy family!"_

Cana didn't know what happened in that instant as her mind froze with the revelation, but the only thing she knew was that she was running. She was running from her place of observing Zero and her old man, not caring for the fact that she crushed her communication card in her fist as she ran. Her lungs burned with the increase intake of air, but she didn't let it bother her as she wanted all her blood to pump to her legs so she could go faster. She swerved through pedestrians left and right as her attention solely focused on Zero and Gildarts. All she thought about was running and that Yuki was her daughter.

Running and Yuki was her daughter.

Running...

and...

Yuki was her daughter.


	14. Woes of the Forgotten

Woes of the Forgotten

 _"I couldn't do it Gray!" Came the cry of an eleven year old Cana as small tears streaked down her face as she ran over to the shirtless boy at their usual hangout spot._

 _"Again Cana? What happened this time?" Gray asked as she plopped herself down next to him with her head in her hands, slightly hiccuping as she tried to take in a breath of air._

 _"I managed to get a few words in and get his attention before he left, but I panicked and just waved goodbye to him." She balled once again into her hands and Gray patted her on the back reassuringly._

 _"Well, nothing we can do about it now so you'll try again next time, right?" He asked with a smile on his face and the young brunette smiled at him return._

 _"Still sticking with the whole "No time for tears, only time for action" motto, huh?" She asked trying to compose herself as she tried to wipe away her tears._

 _"Of course, nothing will get done if we just cry about it all the time." Gray replied with his usual smirk, although he wasn't aware if Cana knew he was a hypocrite to his own words._

 _"Then I hope you're ready to deal with me when I'm taking action with tears in my eyes." Cana retorted as Gray's smirk grew bigger at her words and stood with confidence._

 _"Of course, you can count on me being ready and prepared!"_

An old memory of the close bond Gray shared with Cana appeared in his head, though it was not by mere chance that this occurred. It was when he heard the running steps of boots coming towards him and Gildarts that he saw a familiar brunette coming at them. Her steps purposeful as she quickly shortened the distance, but it was what was on her face that brought about the memory. The hard determination that was plastered across her features, coupled with the tears that streamed down from her eyes brought forth his nostalgia from the depths of his memories. Gray subconsciously opened his arms to take her in as he had been prone to do for her so many years ago, but immediately retracted them once he realized what he was about to do. Something Gildarts didn't miss as he watched him from the corner of his eye while watching his daughter run at them.

It wasn't long before she stood before them and immediately latched onto Gildarts' cloak, looking desperately into his eyes. Something neither one of them have ever seen her do before and Gray has seen almost every face she could do. The brunette on the other hand wanted answers, but most of all she wanted the truth from her own father and whatever Zero knew about Yuki being her daughter.

"Tell me the truth Gildarts, is Yuki really my daughter?" She asked and the older man's breath caught in his throat at her question and Gray raised his eyes in surprise as she had discovered their little secret all too soon.

"Where did you hear that Cana?" The orange haired mage tried to change the conversation and stall, but Cana was not going to have any of that and gripped his cloak even tighter in her fists.

"Don't try to deflect me old man, I heard you talking about it with Zero from my card so spill!" The crash mage took her words with confusion until he felt inside his pocket to find one of her communication cards and nervously looked over towards Gray. He was aghast as the hooded mage merely shrugged his shoulders, signifying that he too had no idea of what to do.

"Sweet heart, just calm down a little please?" The older man tried to calm his daughter, although this only seemed to fuel her even more as eyes became daggers at her own father.

"Calm down!? You want me to calm down when you've been keeping my little girl away from me and not bother saying she was mine in the first place!?" Gildarts was a man who knew to always flee if he ever angered a woman, but he couldn't do so when being held in a vice grip.

"You can jump in any time you know!" Gildarts called out over to Zero, who just stood there with no intention to move and if he did, it was most likely to escape.

"This is a personal matter between the two of you, so I'll let you have your privacy." Zero replied as he was about to turn around and leave the old man to his fate, but a scoff stopped him in his tracks. The same one he knew very well that meant "No, you're not leaving" escape from the brunette.

"You are very well a part of this Absolute Zero. You were teaching my daughter magic and you also knew she was mine, so that means you'll be telling me how you found this out." To prove her point, she created a card entrapment around him to keep him from running away.

 _"Shit...I was so close."_ Gray mentally groaned as he really wasn't looking forward to try and explain how he knew what he knew or make up an elaborate story to drive it all home.

"Now you better start talking old man or else." Cana was in over burdening mode, something Gray couldn't lie that he missed seeing as she would pressure someone into listening to her and usually for the better of their well being.

"Come on Cana, you wouldn't do anything to your own dear ol' dad, now would you?" Gildarts pleaded as he tried to get onto her good graces, but she only smirked devilishly.

"You really want to try me? If you don't start talking you'll face a whole lot of problems from me, not to mention I'll tell Erza who really ate her last four slices of cheesecake last week." She cooly said in such a way that her threat seemed to be amplified even more so, or it could possibly be the mere fact that a raging monster like Erza over cheesecake would be involved was what may have been the major indicator for the crash mage to look like he was about to wet himself.

"You w-wouldn't do that, right? Right!?" Sure he was a powerful mage, but the brats were just getting even stronger with time and Natsu's getting pretty close to push him back more than six feet with a good punch. With Erza becoming master soon, there's no doubt she goes above and beyond the things he's seen Natsu do.

"Are you going to take your chances?" Cana replied coldly and smirked as a fear stricken Gildarts stood before her.

"I...I surrender to you my precious little princess!" Gildarts cried out as he tried to hug Cana, but she struck her hand out to stop his advances.

 _"Wow...he cracked so easily."_ Gray wanted to facepalm at how a powerful mage like Gildarts had been beaten with mere words, but maybe Erza is a bit of a stretch to deal with when angry.

"Now talk Gildarts, what do you know." Cana impatiently tapped her foot as the crash mage tried to come up with words to reply to her.

"I don't know much, I was just told that Yuki is truthfully my granddaughter from the master and he got his information from her master." Gray nearly choked on his own spit as the old man ratted him out so fast and moved the angered brunette towards him.

The hooded mage was ready to face a fierce card mage, but to his surprise her features relaxed and now he was face to face with a concerned mother. A description he never thought he could dub Cana after everything that happened in their past, but his heart clenched at the memories and tried to keep his persona of Absolute Zero as his true identity. Though the questions of what could have been rose up once again from the buried recesses of his mind now that the brunette faced him in such a way.

"Absolute Zero, I appreciate all that you've done for Yuki, but I need to know the truth as you're the only person that really knows anything at the moment." Cana really seemed concerned with wanting to know anything about the little ice mage and Gray could only stare in wonderment beneath his hood at how much his old best friend had changed.

"I guess I have no choice, what would you like to know Ms. Alberona." He replied to her and noticed the slight shift she did at his formal adressing of her.

"I won't mind if you call me Cana, but please tell me everything. How did you know Yuki is mine and whatever there is to say about her." She waited as the hooded man stood silent, while Gildarts calmly pried her hands off his cloak and clasped one of her hands in his.

"If you're sure then I'll tell you, but be aware that what I'm about to tell you is the history between you and someone I knew, and it won't be an easy thing to tell. Not for you to hear or for me to repeat." Cana nodded her head in understanding and Gray hated the fact that he had to create the elaborate story to fit his explanation. No doubt Gildarts won't be happy with him doing so, but it's the best chance to keep everyone away from him and from learning who he is.

"It was about twenty-two years ago in Isvan when I lost everything to a monster and started a new life from the ground up, roughly around the same time I met a close friend of mine who I thought of as a brother. We trained to become strong wizards, though he went off on his own journey to Fiore while I stayed behind in Isvan, yet we still kept in contact for many years. He told me of the adventures he went through and how he met a beautiful girl he was stricken with, something he had never been back home." If Gray was a storyteller, he'd do a pretty decent job at it, but at the moment it wasn't to entertain anyone at all. The ice mage's assumption about Gildarts had been correct as he noticed the look he was giving him, but the crash mage kept his mouth shut.

"Was I...Was I the girl he fell in love with?" Cana questioned to herself, although Gray's superior hearing had caught it and knew that she was slowly buying it.

"Yes you were, he told me how inseparable the two of you were until something happened that changed all that. I don't need to tell you what exactly happened as I'm positive you know what I'm alluding to, so I'll just move on to say that the news was not all that good down the line. He confided in me that your positions about the life you were carrying differed greatly and he managed to convince you to keep it and give the child up for adoption. He admitted that neither of you were truly ready to start a family with each other." Gray saw the shocked look on Cana's face and could understand that it was something hard to grasp altogether, but he had yet to make any major lie.

"I just...I don't understand. I don't remember any of this..." Cana gripped Gildarts' hand and the crash mage tried with everything in his power not to throttle Gray, but he wanted to hear this as well to understand what they went through when he wasn't there so it barely canceled each other out.

"For the next nine months he would tell me all that he had to do for you, he worked as hard as he could to provide for himself and you since you didn't wish for the guild to see you in such a state. In time he told me that you gave birth to a lovely baby girl, but the time you spent with her was cut short and she was taken to an orphanage." Gray grit his teeth at his memory of that dreaded day and wished he never let go of his baby girl, by the way Cana looked it seemed that she couldn't believe her actions. "After that, you both had a falling out and in the end he came back to Isvan broken hearted. Then came the disappearance of Fairy Tail and he grew tireless at the thought that you were gone for good, it took a while for him to accept it and when you all returned he was filled with happiness."

"He...still loved me after all that?" Cana couldn't remember for the life of her of someone that could have been that special to her and she hated that as she could never tell Yuki about her father until they find him.

"He went off to see you at the Grand Magic Games back in '91, but things didn't turn out as I thought they would." Most of the story was truth except for obvious lies and the parts dealing after giving Yuki up for adoption, but this was where he needed to make a much bigger lie to complete the tale.

"I didn't hear much of the games, but when it ended I was later contacted by an official from Fiore who was giving me his condolences for my loss. I didn't understand what he was talking about and only when I came here by their request did I discover that the one person I considered my brother...was killed." A small gasp escaped Cana's lips and the ice mage knew that she wasn't expecting that outcome, hell he didn't even think about the death of his made up person and yet it seemed fitting. "I personally transported his coffin back to Isvan and buried him alongside his parents, something even I think he would have wanted as both he and I were orphans when our parents were killed."

"So I'll never get to meet him again." It was a whisper, but it was enough for the ice mage to know that the story had worked and that the hole he was digging just got even deeper. "You know the past I shared with this person, which you have yet to give a name, but how did you know Yuki was my daughter?"

"His name was Gray if you truly wish to know and I didn't have any idea of it at first, but with the training we did and her continued use of magic did I discover that her signature was just too similar to his. It was by medical similarities the hospital records in my hometown had that I was truly assured that Yuki was Gray's daughter." Gray responded, giving up his name to completely seal the deal as even Cana had no idea who Gray was, he didn't exist in her or anyone else's mind aside from a select few. "Yuki's lived a relatively good life with her adoptive parents until they passed away leaving her with a step-father that wouldn't give her the time of day, before she went on her own trek to become my student. I guess that should've been my first sign as she possesses her father's brave spirit."

In the end, Gray had indirectly told her the past they shared when going through the motions of having Yuki together, but made sure to make it out that he was a third party that knew the father very well. Gildarts was none too happy with his story, whether it was because he lied to his daughter or that he never admitted to being the true father of Yuki, the ice mage was unsure. As for Cana, she had to sit on the ground and take all this in as it was surreal to her that there was parts of her past that she can't remember. Parts that seemed to be filled the best moments she ever had.

"Then tell me this Zero, why is it that my daughter doesn't have stretch marks on her belly like other mothers would have?" Gildarts questioned as he wanted to see Gray get out of the lies he kept telling to others, but it made it out that Cana wasn't the true mother at all.

"Gray said they went to visit some old healer Fairy Tail is acquainted with that gave her a remedy to erase the marks, aside from that maybe it's because she also keeps her body in top condition." The hooded mage replied and immediately the crash mage received a punch in the arm by his daughter as she looked angrily at him.

"How could you say that Yuki's not mine, besides it's totally possible that Porlyusica has some sort of remedy to do that for me." After that outburst, the crash mage realized that it would be best if he kept his mouth shut as the brat was much more clever with his words than he gave him credit for. "But I just don't get why I can't remember any of this."

"It could be that you've repressed these memories as hard as you could. In any case, you now know the past and a very simple reason as to how I know Yuki is yours." Gray spoke up gaining their attention again and looked over at the direction from where he and Gildarts had come from. "If you wouldn't mind Cana, I must return to my student and the same goes for Gildarts as he's responsible for her."

"Right, I'm right behind you Zero." The crash mage spoke up as he quickly stood up and tried to follow after him, but they were stopped by a row of cards that floated before them.

"You are taking me to her, she needs to know that her mother is aware of who she is and wants her back in her life." Cana said with no room for argument and a part of Gray was worried if little Yuki would be prepared to hear the news.

"Are you sure you want to do this, I'm unsure how Yuki will respond to this." Gray said as this could end very badly if Yuki didn't want to accept the truth.

"I want to and I'll do everything I can so that Yuki can accept me as her birth mother." The brunette said confidently as she walked passed the two and the cards that floated before them quickly formed into a deck onto her outstretched hand as she walked onwards, with Gray and Gildarts following after her.

The ice mage played a number of scenarios in his head about this and every single time the end result was that Yuki would feel betrayed that he didn't tell her about her birth mother. Including the fact that he too was aware of her mother, then there was the point that Yuki could put two and two together if Cana mentions that her father's name was Gray. He kept mulling over each one before he realized that they stood before their little girl, the Harbinger sisters, Natsu and Lucy who all looked at them curiously as they came back with Cana.

"Well, what took you guys so long and how come Cana's here too?" Yuki asked and Gray wanted to hide deeper in his cloak as she was the first to ask the million Jewel question that he hoped could get staved off for a few more minutes.

"You see Yuki, me and your master were talking when Cana spotted us and said she wanted to tag along and..." Gildarts was trying his hardest to make this situation less stressful on someone, exactly who it was Gray didn't know because it was just making things worse.

"We'll get to that later Yuki, for now I can see that everyone's already done so let's get back to walking around as soon as I pay the bill." Gray spoke up as he went inside the cafe, relieved that he was out of there and hoped the old man was smart enough to make sure Cana didn't say anything.

As for those still outside, the air grew pretty thick all of a sudden as Cana stood off to a side although it was mainly due in part by Gildarts. He knew that if someone was going to break the news to Yuki, then it had to be Gray as his granddaughter trusted her master more over anyone else. It was then that the thought of Gray never being able to get back into the picture crossed his mind as he effectively decided to kill himself off and decide that he had been dead for the past five years. His fantasy was still intact, but dear daddy won't be there with them and it'll just be mommy and grandpa. His thoughts slightly faltered as Cana tried to break free from his grasp and he noticed at the corner of his eye that Lucy was looking at them questioningly.

It wasn't long until the brunette broke free and looked over at Natsu and Lucy, she wondered when they met Zero plus why were they having lunch with him. The dragon slayer of course was too busy eating the last portions of food left for him, while Lucy was well aware of the question the card mage had and decided to answer it before she asked.

"Natsu and I got into a bit of a misunderstanding with Zero and in the end he invited us to lunch." The blonde said as Cana accepted her answer much more curious than what Lucy wanted and watched as her gaze moved from them over towards the two ladies at their table. "And these are the Harbinger sisters; Apryl and Madeline. Zero brought them with him because they wanted news lives for themselves, but I'm sure they could tell you more about it themselves."

The brunette's curiosity was actually enough for her to ask them how they met Zero in the first place, allowing their conversation to go on until the hooded mage himself had come out at last. Gray could already see it on Gildarts' face that he was glad he came back and judging by the way his daughter was looking at him, she too was waiting for him to come back and explain himself.

"Lucy, if you and Natsu wouldn't mind, can you get the sisters to speak with your guildmaster. I've promised Yuki that she'd have my attention for the rest of my visit and I can trust that they will be safe under your watch." Gray asked as the blonde tried to come up with an answer to deny his request, but in the end she had to agree as there wasn't much else they could do to stick around Zero.

"Sure, Master Makarov may be able to set them up with a guild suited for their needs. Maybe they'll be our new members, right Natsu?" Lucy turned to look at the dragon slayer to merely come to the sight of a satisfied Natsu, rubbing his stomach happily. "Nevermind."

"Do you really believe that you can leave us under their care, Zero?" Apryl wearily asked as she still worried over the fact that they had pursuers for the longest time and nearby them to boot.

"There's nothing to be afraid of; Lucy's a powerful celestial mage and there's no doubt her spirits can handle anything. If that's not enough, then you also have Natsu Dragneel at your side and I doubt there's much in the way of some low leveled dark mage who can stop him." The hooded mage replied although Apryl was still unsure as she felt safest with him behind them, but Madeline gave her a reassuring nod to let her know that it was alright.

"We'll be fine, plus we'll get to see how this country's number one guild is like." Madeline spoke out to ease her sister a little more and the pink haired dragon slayer gave them a happy grin as he shot up onto his feet.

"That's great then, so let's get you guys to Fairy Tail!" He proclaimed, grabbing their luggage into his arms all the while telling Lucy to hurry.

The blonde only shook her head at how eager he was to show off the guild to the two young ladies they just met that day, but it only reminded her of how he was when she first met him. She kindly excused herself from Zero's precesence as the Harbinger sisters followed her, but she couldn't shake the feeling she had about Yuki's master. It was weird to say the least as their fate would've been intertwined years ago if a different course of action was to be taken and how his words lit her imaginative mind into an inferno of how real her daydream was. Most ironic word choice if she had to be honest as she knew very well that Zero was an ice mage, but they were words that still made her point.

As the group walked away, Gray turned to look at the others and wasn't all too thrilled with what needed to come next. He wasn't prepared to tell the young ice mage any of this, how could he when even he had become so stricken with the news. He spent the first few days in a surreal state to discover that the daughter he gave up for adoption had actually come looking for him, given that she came looking to become his student although the idea was still mind blowing. He couldn't tell anyone back then and now he didn't have anyone to tell, then he remembered that there was a point during Cana's pregnancy where he exhausted himself for taking so many jobs that he collapsed right in front of Erza.

 _FLASHBACK_

 _"What's going on Gray, what's gotten into you that you're taking on so many request at a given time?" A then eighteen year old Erza asked his weary self as he laid on one of the guild's infirmary beds, doing everything in his power to stay awake._

 _"I have to...I have to support us." He replied tiredly, how much he had wished then that he could take it easy like he used to. "They need me..."_

 _"What are you talking about Gray, who needs you?" Erza was like everyone else at the time, unaware of what happened between him and Cana. As far as the requip mage knew, the only thing he was doing was working to finally pay off his house so he could finally get his privacy without Natsu barging into his room at the boys dorm._

 _"Cana and the...baby..." He had not been in the right state of mind to hide secrets, but if he had to be honest then he was glad that it was Erza over anyone else._

 _"The baby? Whose baby?" Erza's questioning voice was all that he recalled before he finally gave into his exhaustion, but it wasn't going to be over just because he fell asleep._

 _END FLASHBACK_

Gray remembered how the scarlet haired girl grilled him for answers of what he said before he finally caved in, she was surprisingly calm in the end. Of course she was disappointed that they allowed something like this to happen, to keep it a secret from their family, but she was understanding and wanted to ease Gray's burden as his close friend. The ice mage trusted Erza to be silent about it and was glad that not a word was spoken, but no one accepted the end result. Gray looked back at that time and was well aware that Erza won't have any idea of that occurring or that she knew Cana had been pregnant in the past. The same could be said about Cana as her memories have been wiped of that event happening when he was exiled from Fairy Tail. Just another memory held onto by someone who's been forgotten by everyone he ever knew.

"What do you think Zero?" Gildarts said as Gray momentarily shook his head beneath his hood and turned to face the crash mage.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that. Mind repeating that for me?" He could feel the worried look his daughter was giving him, not to mention the questioning one Cana was giving him as well from off to the side.

"I said that we should go and find a place suitable to talk about, you know, recent events with Yuki." The orange haired man repeated and at that, Gray had become aware of Cana urging her father to let her speak to her newly discovered daughter. An odd thing since she was patient to reveal herself to Gildarts before, but maybe she no longer wants to risk the same thing happening again.

"Sure, how about that park I noticed on the map of the town. It looks like a good place if any." Gray replied and Cana was the first to claim that she'd lead them there in no time, which the ice mage wished he could get to postpone as much as he possibly could.

As the group walked through the streets, they made idle chatter with each other with the occasional glance from a citizen whenever they looked at the large, hooded man that walked with them. No one batted an eye of caution of who he was as both Gildarts and Cana were present with him and Gray could say that it helped not to draw attention to himself when he saw some of them he helped in the past. The park grew ever closer to them, but the ice mage stopped Cana from leading them and went off to a familiar spot near the water's edge that was enclosed by a railing. He skimmed his hand across it before he felt the familiar grooves of hand imprints in a specific rail, full knowing that this was the spot in which he was given one of the biggest pieces of news in his was an interesting feeling as he stood there as a part of him could've sworn that Loke was just behind him, the spirit cowering behind Aries for safety. It wasn't one of his more impactful memories, but it was still had it's share of pain nonetheless though the nostalgia was swept away as Yuki began to tug at his cloak.

"Master Zero, Gildarts said I needed to talk to you. He took Cana for a bit of a walk to give us privacy, but I don't know what he's getting at." The little brunette said as Gray looked down towards his daughter, using his Devil's Eye to see past the magical seal over her features. Sure this ability of his was mainly used against demons he fought to see past their deceptions, but it worked well to see past certain magical spells.

"Guess the old man wants me to tackle this alone, bet it's because of my answer that made him look bad in front of Cana." Gray mumbled to himself, letting out a sigh as this would prove to be quite the challenge for him. "Yuki, have you ever considered searching for your actual birth parents before?"

"I thought about it when I went looking for you, but not in a while, why?" Yuki was so innocent, but Gray had to tell the truth one way or another and he wasn't about to go with the "bandage method" to tell her.

"It's interesting that you still went looking for a master over looking for the people that brought you into this world." Some part of Gray felt like a hypocrite as he did something similar as well, instead of looking for a welcoming family after losing his own, he sought out someone who could teach him magic so that he could get his revenge.

"Master, I was afraid that they wouldn't want me and I'd rather take the chance of becoming your student over that." It would seem odd for a girl at the age of eight to take on a dangerous journey to find a master over taking one to look for her family, but what she hadn't revealed was that she didn't want to forget about her adoptive parents if she ever found her real ones. "I'm glad I found you and all that you've done for me."

"I'm no great man Yuki, I think I'm far from something honorable truth be told." Gray knew she thought highly of him, but he was never one to seek out praise from anyone. "There's much you still have to learn and having a loving family will help you benefit."

"That's like what Gildarts said to me a while ago, but I do have a family; Fairy Tail and you Master." Yuki admitted timidly as she found it embarrassing to tell her master that he was like family to her and if she had to be honest, she would've preferred that he adopted her instead of gaining guardianship of her.

"If you were still living with me, I would've thought you wanted something squirt." Gray joked, but her comment made it only that much harder to tell her. "You'll probably hate me for this, so I'll get it over with and take your anger."

"Why would I hate you Master?" Yuki had become concerned as she never heard her master take on such a tone and worried for what he had to tell her.

"Yuki...I wasn't aware of this before the incident, but as soon as I found out, I kept it a secret. In the weeks you were recovering, I could have told you this and yet I couldn't bring myself to do it." Gray looked down at his daughter, the innocence she holds made the regrets he had lighten and now he had to put the weight of truth on her. "I know who your parents are."

Yuki stood in silence at her master's revelation, not expecting him to know the people who gave her up when she was but a baby. "You do...are they still around?" She asked cautiously, the little brunette completely caught off guard by the news.

"Yes and no, I'm afraid your father is...dead." Now that made Gray feel his heart split in two, he never wanted to lie to his daughter about his existence. The ice mage wanted her to be in his arms and learn that her daddy was much closer than she could have ever expected, but now it was for the sake of keeping his story together. "He was a good man and a great person, but his time was cut short."

"Oh..." The small reply was all she could muster as both her fathers shared a similar fate and it only left her mother, but the news of her worried the little brunette as well. "What about my mom, do you know her?"

"As for your mother, well...let's just say that she wants to tell you herself. I have no right of spoiling this for either of you." Yuki looked at him puzzled as the only thing she could tell by this was that her mother was close and he may have contacted her to see her here in Magnolia.

"He's right, I want to tell you personally that I'm your mother Yuki." The little brunette immediately froze as she heard a new voice behind her and tried her hardest not to overreact. She was completely blind sided and hadn't expected for this meeting to occur so soon.

She looked up at her master for any last minute advice he could possibly give to her, but he just gave her a reassuring smile as he signaled her to turn around. Taking a deep breath, Yuki steadied herself and with one fluid motion, she turned around to meet the woman who was her mother. The young ice mage first noticed her hips and as her eyes traveled upward, they stopped at the recognizable guild mark on her waist and before she knew it, her eyes landed on a pair of amethyst ones. This was not what she expected, this was far from what her initial thoughts were of who the woman her master knew to be her mother would be.

Cana nervously kept eye contact with her daughter as she didn't say a single word since turning to face her, all the while nervously clasping her hands together in order to steady herself. Gildarts was not far behind her, giving her some advice of what she needed to do when the truth was finally revealed and had been grateful for his support although she needed it now more than ever. How was it that she was more than willing to come out to say that she was Yuki's mother, but at the very last moment her fire fizzled out and worried about the younger girl's reaction? All that was left was the expected silence and the card mage could see that her daughter was trying to form words, though they were caught in her throat as she had yet to utter a single syllable.

The two stared at each other for what felt like hours before Yuki broke eye contact and the three adults cautiously awaited her words. They soon heard a meek voice, something so low that neither Cana nor Gildarts had caught it although it wasn't the same case for Gray. The hooded mage shifted for a bit, like he was going to do something, but was halted when Yuki finally bursted out with a cry.

"It's not right!" She cried out, turning her head abruptly and running off into the park, momentarily stunning Cana who hadn't expected that.

"Gildarts watch over Cana, I'll go after Yuki." Gray ordered as he went off after his daughter, he too caught unaware of the way Yuki reacted compared to what he thought would happen.

Gray ran in the direction his daughter rushed off into and didn't have to try very hard to locate her as a visible trail was laid before him. If there was something he had learned about the little brunette was that her emotional imbalance causes her to release her ice magic freely, which he hadn't taken into account as the snow usually covered any sign of such an event back in Isvan whenever her mood drastically changed. It wasn't long before he found her sitting at the base of a tree with her head buried in her knees as she hugged them close to her body.

The hooded mage sat alongside her, placing a comforting gloved hand on top of her head while she kept her face hidden. Gray concluded that it must have been difficult to truly come to terms with all that has happened in this one day, just like the day she was captured although he had thought that she could toughen this one out. It pained him to see his daughter in such a state, but at the moment their bond only consisted of a master-student one compared to the father-daughter one he wanted.

"How...How could that woman be my mother?" Yuki lowly asked as she had yet to really process that Cana was her mother.

"It's unexpected I'm sure, but it's the truth squirt. Cana Alberona is truly your birth mother." Gray replied, removing his hand as she finally looked up at him although the pain stricken face she wore added another shot of pain in his heart.

"But why her!? She's far from what the motherly type should be! Erza acts more like a mother to me than she does!" Her confusion was not lost on him as even the ice mage knew that his old scarlet haired best friend tended to have a motherly effect on people or big sister type that cares in their own, painful way.

"Looks are quite deceiving Yuki, you should be well aware of that. Cana can be the mother you pictured." Gray tried to reason since he was the most likely person to be able to fix this situation, but that didn't mean it was guaranteed to work.

"I know, but all she does is drink to her heart's content, fight with anyone that bothers her and just barely keep some of the others in check." Yuki argued back as it was the only thing she ever saw the older brunette do around the guild. "Not like Erza who keeps everyone in line, makes sure that the people she's watching over are alright and still manages to keep the guild lively."

"Sometimes we've got to accept that the things we imagined for ourselves won't come to pass and that we need to be alright with that." It was surprising to see how much Yuki preferred Erza over Cana, but the young brunette had to accept the card mage for what she actually is. "Give Cana a chance and you'll see that she may surprise you in taking on her role as a mother."

"I don't know, I've heard what her past was like and I bet she doesn't even know who my dad actually is." How much was Yuki both right and wrong in Gray's eyes as the older brunette was both aware of Yuki's father and at the same time unaware of his true identity. "Couldn't you just adopt me, Master?"

"What?" Now that surprised Gray even more than before as he hadn't expected her to say anything like that.

"I've...I've been meaning to ask you about this. I wanted you to adopt me and make me your daughter whether by Isvani law or Fiorean." To Yuki, her master had resembled a father figure that equalled that of her first father and, dare she say, even excelled sometimes.

"Squirt that's flattering in a way, but I doubt I'll make a good father to you. Besides, do you really want someone like me as your father, with all that I have to do and face all year round?" It wasn't like Gray wanted to disway her proposition, it's just that he had never expected that to happen before although he thought back to Ur and how she was willing to take him and Lyon in as her own.

"I've stuck around you long enough to know what happens and you trained me yourself, so I can take care of myself out there." The little ice mage gave imploring eyes to her master for him to accept, but Gray was steadfast and wasn't willing to separate Cana from her rightful place as a mother.

"Listen to me Yuki, please give Cana a chance to prove to you that she can be your mother and if you really think she can't rise to the challenge then..." This was a serious bargain he was about to make and it heavily relied on Cana really showing off that she had what it took to be a mother, "I'll return to Fiore to legally adopt you and make you my daughter."

"Deal, if it comes to it then I'll contact you." The little ice mage was positive that she'd call her master in due time, but at the same time she felt a small pang of what she could guess as guilt for doing something like this to Cana.

"Alright, now come on. We need to get back to your mother and you new grandpa as well." The hooded mage spoke up he noticed the look of realization strike his daughter, now knowing that her grandfather was actually Gildarts.

Gray had been worried of what outcome could have occurred because of all this and in truth, this was not one of the worse case scenarios, but it was still bad nonetheless. He was truly unsure how Cana would be prepared to take the news of being a mother, but he had hopes that she'd be able to make it to Yuki's expectations. That look she made when they spoke to each other was enough to tell him that his old friend was ready and willing to take on this new role that had been bestowed upon her. He only hoped that the lies he told today thus far would be worth it in the long run for the better of everyone else.


	15. Those Left Behind

Those Left Behind

"I knew it would happen, but I just can't stop feeling hurt because of it." Cana couldn't really believe the reaction her daughter had, leaving such a sharp aching pain in her heart from the way Yuki shouted and ran away.

"It'll be alright sweet heart, Zero's already talking with Yuki to fix this if anything." Gildarts had also been stunned with the development that it didn't quite register into his mind that Gray had already been on top of things right as soon as it ended.

Cana admitted to being ready of being a mother to the crash mage, something that many others wouldn't think of her doing in her life just yet. The brunette was always off just enjoying herself like she always had, but Cana was willing to change all that now that she knew she was a mother. Gildarts on the other hand was worried that if Yuki behaved like that to Cana, then what would her reaction be now that the little ice mage knew he was her grandfather. The orange haired mage didn't want to admit it, but Gray was right that they should have prepared such a thing before hand although it was his own over eagerness that cause this to happen.

"Do you think she'll hate me?" It shocked Gildarts to hear his brave daughter talk in such a way, as if she's already given up without giving putting up a fight.

"Don't talk like that Cana, Yuki's a nice girl and I'm more than sure she wouldn't come to hate you for this." That much the crash mage had an unshaken faith for after spending time with the young ice mage over the week.

"But I gave her up willingly, Gildarts! You and mom separated before I was born so you didn't know about me at the time." It was fact that he couldn't deny, Gildarts had divorced Cornelia because of his job though if he found out that she was pregnant than he'd never have gone through with it. "Even if I can't remember it, I knew about her and decided that I didn't want her!"

"No Cana you didn't do that! It wasn't that you didn't want her, it was that you weren't ready to have her!" Gildarts wouldn't allow Cana to think so low, she couldn't for the sake that she'd just fear what Yuki would think of her. "If you're going to blame someone than blame me!"

"Why would you take the blame?" The card mage was confused as to why her father would think her actions were his fault, given that he wasn't there at the time.

"You feared that you weren't ready because you didn't have great parents as role models. I always left you after I came back from my requests without paying to much mind to you and your mother passed away when you were still young." Gildarts would never blame Cornelia, far from it, as he knew Cana would've kept Yuki if she were still around at the time. "Your mother departed from this world before you could really admire how caring and kind she could truly be, while I was busy focusing on working than my family."

"Now you see there, that's how caring your grandpa can be Yuki. Making sure your mother knows that she shouldn't feel sad about the way things turned out." Came the familiar voice of Zero as he and Yuki were walking up to the father and daughter moment, both very surprised to see them back.

The young ice mage remained silent as she looked at them, lost on what her next move should be and for the fact that Gildarts was looking expectantly at her. It felt odd to Yuki to see the bearded man as her newly discovered grandfather, one of which was the most powerful mage of Fairy Tail at the moment. Her staring was enough to have her mother look nervously between her and Gildarts, no doubt hoping that he may be able to patch things up since he was spending time with her. Though Yuki wouldn't stand for that; he may be her grandfather, but this was something she had to settle with her mother on their own.

Yuki wanted to be seen as someone that could stand up for herself, to prove that there was still that driving force within her that made her seek out her master in the first place and yet she was hesitant to speak. The air had to be cleared up between herself and Cana, the young ice mage wanted to take her stand, but her own emotions were making it hard. Her preconceived idea for a mother was completely altered once the news came out and her frustrations had been released all out once with her outburst. Her true emotions were because of the fact that she subconsciously placed Cana in the same group as her "step-father" and didn't want to live a life like that again, but her master was the one to ask her to at least test the waters for a bit. She was giving Cana the benefit of the doubt, but if things went sour then the older brunette had to make a compromise to allow her master to adopt her.

"I'm...I'm sorry for the way I reacted." Yuki bowed her head as her staring contest with her mother wouldn't get them anywhere, but she was sticking to the side of her master for support.

"No, no it's okay Yuki. I would've been the same way if I found out my mother was someone like me." Cana tried to appease to the young girl's good graces as she came closer, but frowned slightly as she retreated behind Zero.

A small awkward chuckle escaped the hooded mage's lips as he turned slightly to nudge Yuki forward, knowing that there wouldn't be anything resolved if one retreated when the other advanced. Gray just couldn't shake the feeling that there was going to be so much that he'll miss once he goes back into hiding, leaving Yuki in the care of his old family. Would it truly be worth it? He'd just have to wait and see as this sort of thing would come to him in time, so he'd just live in the moment right now.

"I think there's something you need to say, right Yuki?" Gray looked down at his daughter as she meekly nodded at his words and moved to the front of him.

"I'm not sure how I truly feel about this right now, but I will accept the fact that you're my...mom." Yuki's cheeks began to turn an adorable shade of pink before she slightly panicked at the sight of Cana's tears. "Did I say something wrong!?"

"No you didn't Yuki, I'm just so happy that you're letting me into your life as your mommy!" Cana cried as she lunged at the young ice mage, already cheek to cheek with her and Yuki could tell that card mage was a lot like Gildarts with their affection to their children.

"So does that mean I can be a part of this hugging session, make it a group hug?" Gildarts tentatively asked as he engulfed them both in his arms before they had time to argue against it. Unaware that Zero was slightly chuckling to himself at the scene before him; a giddy grandfather, a tears-of-joy stricken mother and his student completely blindsided with all this unconditional love.

It was a happy scene to say the least, one that Gray was no stranger to in the years since he started working as a freelance mage although this was different. This time, there was a warm feeling building up inside his heart that was all attributed to his daughter finally coming home to her real family; sans himself because of reasons. He turned abruptly as the sudden warm feeling began to grow colder as the reality of his lies were starting to mount up and show him what he'll never have now.

"You're not missing out on any of this! You're the one who brought my granddaughter back to us!" Gildarts said as he surprised hug the hooded mage, lifting him up off his feet while Gray began to wriggle free once he realized what was happening.

A funny display to Yuki, though she herself could sympathize as her mother still was hugging her with tears in her eyes. What they didn't see was that two particular people had the wrong idea of the scene, the likes of which already had a negative outlook on Yuki's master.

"Hold him Gildarts, I'll put an end to his terror!" A strong feminine voice shouted as the sound of metal and boots began to charge at him.

Gray turned in the direction of the voice and immediately clasped his hands at the sight of the raging scarlet head with a blade in her hands. He quickly created an ice blade to counter her strike, using the crash mage's shock to evade her second swipe and gain some distance. She stared him down like she would an enemy and Gray was fully aware that she hasn't come across Lucy and Natsu to understand that there was no problem with him. Initial footing and placement told him that she's prepared to use her Heaven's Wheel armor to start, if he holds back on offense and stay on defense then she'll stay in it instead of changing into her Flame Empress armor.

As for his ice sword, it withstood well enough for the counter although it was a short blade since he didn't have much room to fully block the whole blade. If anything, he's grateful to have been trained by Erza in his weapon wielding and sparring for so long that he learned her fighting style. Sure he hardly ever won against her, but he knew that in comparison to Erza's overall abilities, he excelled with his defence and counters. He kept his eyes locked with the requip mage, keeping his stance loose so she couldn't get the right read on his weapon experience. One hammered rule she put on him was to make sure that your opponent didn't fully get a grasp of your capabilities.

"Cana, are you and Yuki alright?" Erza questioned as she and Zero began circling around, his stance unreadable to her as he was giving no definitive style.

"Yeah we're fine, but what's going on?" Cana asked as she was bewildered by the scarlet head's sudden actions against Zero.

"Get yourselves to safety right now, Zero's lied about who he is!" She commanded as she swiftly shortened the distance between herself and Zero, becoming angered that he had managed to block her strike again.

With the momentum she had in her initial strike, the scarlet head requipped another blade in her left hand for an upward slash. Zero made distance as the blade came up, but Erza pressed the attack as much as she could and her ferocity was met with a solid defence every time. She paid attention to his movement, always prepared to counter when needed but the hooded mage stuck to defense only. Not once had he offensively countered her, just blocks and parries from one strike to the next; no definitive style of swordsmanship ever visible to her and yet she knew he'd been trained.

"I hadn't expected to go one on one with the Great Titania today." Zero remarked as he allowed his ice sword to evaporate. "I can only assume that neither you nor Lisanna have come across Lucy and Natsu, right?"

"What did you do to them?" She questioned harshly, her guard raised to max as his hands were free for him to use his maker magic.

"Nothing, they're fine and are escorting the Harbingers to meet your master back at Fairy Tail." He replied casually although Erza didn't feel so convinced with his answer, until Yuki ran in between them with her arms spread across.

"It's true Erza! We just had lunch with them only a little while ago." Erza shifted her gaze between the student and the master, unsure if the little brunette wasn't aware of her master's dark past and merely defending him like any good student would.

"If you don't take my word for it, then at least take Yuki's. She's one of the most honest kids you'll ever meet." The hooded mage voiced out as he crossed his arms as Lisanna began making her way towards the requip mage, "All this because of a misconception about my person was enough to even have you think of me as a villain, so to show you that I'm not a threat, I'm putting my faith in you listening to my student and what she has to say."

"Whatever's going on is between you and Zero, Erza. Though I'm not about to let Yuki get hurt while I'm around." Cana immediately came to the young ice mage's side, placing her hands upon her small shoulders with a defiant look about her that it was surprising to see the older brunette be fierce to Erza.

"Even if you are the next guild master, I'm standing on the side of my family on this one Erza." Gildarts added as he copied Cana's action, placing his hands upon her shoulders although he didn't have any ferocity in his features compared to his daughter.

"What in Mavis' name is going on here?" The requip mage questioned outwardly as she hadn't expected for Gildarts and Cana to defend Zero, but the safety of hundreds of people was in her hands so she couldn't risk backing down now.

"Family stands together in what they believe is right, an aspect Fairy Tail's always managed to excel in for years." Zero answered calmly as he decided to make himself visible again from behind the Clive family, or was it the Alberona family?, so he could face his old best friend again.

"You have no right to speak about family, weren't you the one who helped the group that separated us for a year?" The scarlet head accused as she had yet to drop her battle stance, blade at the ready whenever Zero would make his move.

"Your argument is the same as Salamander's, I was not a part of Tartaros when they attacked you." At the mention of the accursed dark guild, Cana immediately looked at him with shock as being affiliated with them was grounds of being an enemy of Fairy Tail. "I know I can never truly understand all the pain that you and your guild had been put through, but allow me to apologize on my father's behalf."

"You're father..." Lisanna echoed as she had never expected to see the child of a Demon Gate be one of the "good guys" although she needed to use the term loosely at the moment. "So you're actually the son of an Etherious?"

"No I'm not, my father was very much a human like you or me." Zero replied as now knew he caused confusion amongst all of them as Tartaros hated humans with a passion, so it didn't make much sense to have a human in their ranks.

"But you told me that you were orphaned at a young age, how does that make any sense when your father was alive to be a member of Tartaros?" Cana couldn't believe the revelation and now things weren't keeping in line with Zero's story.

"This is a long story I don't wish to get into again Cana, but to put it simply for Erza; my father, along with all the people I ever knew, were killed and Tartaros had decided to use his body as a vessel." You'd think that with years of accepting what happened in the past it wouldn't phase Gray, but there was still a sore spot every time he thought back about his father. "I'm sure you can understand the feeling of one's own parent fighting for the wrong cause, right princess?"

At the mention of the royal title, Erza's grip on her sword tightened even further as only a select few truly knew about her origins. Everything she ever belonged to before her birth died centuries ago, she wouldn't acknowledge the royal blood that ran through her veins, but for someone who's such an unknown like Zero to have even the slightest notion didn't sit right with her. Though the requip mage didn't like to admit that he had a point, she had fought her mother on the battlefield on an opposing front. Irene was fighting for a cause that would jeopardize the lives of millions and Erza wouldn't stand for it.

"Princess?" Cana wondered out loud and the scarlet head had to work fast so's not to have people asking unnecessary questions...yet.

"I concede with your point Zero, but if you wish to use my nickname, then please remember that it is Titania; queen of the fairies." Erza had decided it was best to relinquish her assault and have a talk with Natsu and Lucy as they have some sort of information regarding Zero's past.

"Glad to see that we can come to a peaceful conclusion." Zero voiced out, though it had actually ticked the armored mage off for some reason at how nonchalant he was acting after being attacked and remaining on the defense for most of it. "On a much lighter note to ease the tension, will you congratulate the reunion of a lost child to their parent?"

"Lost child to their parent?" Erza was confused by his words until she turned to look over at Yuki and Cana, the older brunette still having her hands upon the little ice mage's shoulders. "Are you saying..."

"He sure is Erza, say hello to Yuki Mizuno Alberona!" Cana exclaimed as she bent down to be cheek to cheek with Yuki once again, the latter's embarrassment quite evident on her face.

"What!?" Lisanna was blown away by the news and immediately rushed over to the mother and daughter, stars in her eyes that someone she knew since childhood was a mother for the longest of time.

"But the age difference..." The requip was caught off guard by that fact that she didn't realize that there was a major reason to explain that right off the bat. "When did this even happen?"

The news created such a commotion that all three women quickly went into discussion of anything and everything concerning Cana's major leap into motherhood. Though it didn't serve as a long distraction for Gray to make an exit as Erza kept her eye on him, but it wouldn't stop there as she walked up to him once again. Gildarts had been next to the hooded mage, although he quickly got the message the requip mage was sending to him with her eyes and went to join the others.

"Though the news is very wonderful to hear, you and I still need to talk without interruption from the others." She of course wanted to stay and chat with Yuki and Cana some more, but her duty came first and she needed to discover more about Zero.

"I'm all up for talking things out, just hoping we won't be reduced to fighting each other in the streets is all." The hooded mage replied as Erza pointed in a direction with an irritated sigh, much to Gray's internal joy as he found it funny to mess with her like this.

* * *

"You do know that Yuki's supposed to accompany me along with Gildarts by order of your master, right?" Gray voiced out as he had been already walking like she instructed, it was one thing to be confronted by Erza, but it was another to be taken away from spending some time with his daughter on his visit.

"Then I'll personally apologize to all three of them in due time, for now I'll take charge of you." The armored woman replied sternly as she matched his step, watching his movements carefully in case he decided to try something.

"Comforting" He cheekily said as it was followed with a grunt from his new companion, bringing a hidden smile to Gray's face.

The two walked down a few streets before Erza had decided that it was time for her to get her answers, but as she turned to face Yuki's master, his attention was somewhere else. Leaning a bit forward to see past his tall frame, she noticed what he was staring at and it only served to confuse her even more about his behavior. About a hundred or so feet away from them was Juvia and Lyon getting ice cream from a local vendor, though Erza wasn't really sure if it was them he was looking at or something else.

"Familiar with them?" She asked as the shaking of his hood notified that he was clearing his head of whatever he was thinking about.

"No...I'm not on a personal level, but if I'm right then that should be Lyon Vastia. A disciple of Ur, the famous ice make mage." Gray replied to her, remembering that he has no real association with anyone that Fairy Tail knows. "Though I don't know who the woman in blue is."

"That's Juvia Lockser, she's a guildmate of mine and also the fiance of Lyon."

"Oh...well good luck to them both, best if we not interrupt their date."

Erza couldn't put her finger on it, but the tone of Zero's voice sounded almost... relieved to her although she couldn't be so sure as it was still pretty hard to tell. The only thing she could correctly hear from him was sarcasm, but it maybe because of what her current impression of him is. Without another word, Zero just continued to walk on through the streets with no real sense of direction until Erza decided once again that she needed to ask the questions she had.

"Enough with the ruse Zero, you know a lot about Fairy Tail than you're letting on." Erza accused as the hooded mage turned to face her, though it bothered her to an extent of how long he's kept his face hidden from her. "You are familiar with what past I have, so I want to know the person who gave you this information."

"I've met with an interesting character that you and your guild know very well some time ago, his name still feared by many even if his brother ended his reign of terror." By the look of realization on Erza's face, Gray knew that she understood what he was alluding to. "But don't worry, he's vowed not to make problems for anyone now that he's found the peace he was seeking for."

"How is that possible? To even come in contact is a certified death at his hands." Erza could not outwardly say Zeref's name in public as to avoid misunderstandings, but to speak with the black mage and learn of secrets he held is no ordinary feat.

"Hunting down his demons for a few years, you never know what you'll stumble upon. Enough favors for him and I get to ask a single question; I've always been curious as to why he and his people attacked Fairy Tail rather than the kingdom of Fiore directly." Of course that was an obvious lie on Gray's behalf as he managed to learn about a lot of things first hand. "Needless to say, he went into depth of what he wanted and revealed interesting facts about his followers who had their own agendas in being under his command."

"Even if that was the case, why would he entrust you with this knowledge? Wouldn't he have thought that you'd use it to take advantage of us?" Reasonable conclusions if Gray ever thought of, but it wouldn't be difficult to answer her.

"Now that is the question. I have no idea why he allowed me to go, but I have a weird feeling that it wouldn't be the last time we'll meet." It seemed that Erza was at a loss for words at the moment and Gray couldn't have hoped for a better outcome.

"Your claim doesn't sound so reassuri-" The requip mage couldn't finish her sentence as her lacriphone went off, answering it before the ringtone embarrassed her. "This is Red...for me? Alright I'm on my way back."

"So it seems that our conversation will have to be cut short Erza." The scarlet head was about to make a remark, but was drowned out by the call of Lisanna behind her.

"Hey! Over here you two! We were looking all over for you; one second you were next to us and the next you're both gone." The white haired woman looked between the two mages and could feel an underlying tension in the air, but a saving grace came in the form of the new family.

Coming behind Lisanna was Cana who was jogging alongside Gildarts, the crash mage carrying little Yuki on top of his shoulders. The young ice mage was definitely embarrassed as she wouldn't dare look in her master's direction. Of course Gildarts was happy as can be now that he finally had his granddaughter riding on his shoulders, something his wished he could've done with Cana when she was little though it didn't come without its fair share of eye rolls from the mentioned brunette.

"Sorry about that, your teammate wanted to have a small chat with me." Zero replied to her first, but he was only gaining more of Erza's ire. "As it stands, I do believe that it's time that I headed back home."

"Wait what? Master Zero you were barely here for two hours at most!" Yuki whined outwardly, forgetting the fact that there were others around her although it didn't seem to phase her.

"No back sass squirt, you've got plenty to get use to now. Besides, I know that it's best for me to get on my way." Zero replied to her as his head shifted a little to look in Erza's direction, the requip mage soon feeling the gaze of the little ice mage on her as well. "For the benefit of the few and good of the many, but just remember to call me in case you need help."

The little ice mage went into a small tirade of complaints of how he was leaving too early, that they hadn't managed to spend enough time looking at the city. All of this while still on Gildarts' shoulders, though he wasn't complaining any time soon and Zero refuted her words at every turn. As this continued, Cana couldn't help but stare in wonderment at how much her daughter's personality shifts when she's speaking to her master over the others in the guild. If she had to be honest, she was a bit jealous of their relationship as Zero could be made out to be more of a parent to Yuki than she has been yet.

That kind of bond is what she hopes to achieve some day soon as it was fitting for a family to have, but even so, a father figure would have been a good addition to their dynamic. As she looked at it now, the brunette could tell that it was the bond those two shared that's keeping Erza at bay from attacking Zero again. That's when her confusion about the two's interaction popped up in Cana's mind, what was Zero's true past if his father had become an Etherious? Her confusions would stay with her as she looked back towards the hooded mage as he began waving goodbye to everyone, walking in the general direction of the train station.

"That could have gone better." Gildarts said aloud once Gray was out of earshot, though he did get a stern look from the requip mage in turn. "I know you're doing your job Erza, but your behavior was a bit uncalled for. If he truly was who you claimed him to be, then I would've been enough to handle him."

"In your dreams old man." Yuki remarked as the crash mage chuckled at her words, "and put me down already, you're going to embarrass me in front of all these people more than I already am."

"That's grandpa to you little missy and I'll be keeping you there until we get back to the guild." The orange haired man replied as he began walking towards the guild, Lisanna quickly getting in step with him so she could ask the many questions she had for the next grandfather of the guild that wasn't Makarov.

Cana looked on with a pleased smile that they were all trying to settle in with being a new family, although she had her reserves of Erza's behavior towards her daughter's master. She personally saw nothing wrong about him, since he was admitting to the truth when she asked for it and helping her understand a bit about her daughter. The card mage could only guess that whatever happened to the armored woman before she made it back to the guild was still affecting Erza, but who knew if that's what's been keeping her on edge.

"Gildarts has a point Erza, I might not know Zero at all, but if he really was out to get us then why would he even bother training a student?" The brunette was met with silence as the requip mage only stared off after Zero, his figure growing much harder to see with the each passersby getting in the way.

"Does that mean you trust what he says?" The scarlet head questioned, walking after the three that already left.

"It takes a whole lot more than a few minutes of conversation for me to trust someone, but there's something about him that makes me believe in the things he's said." Cana replied as she begun walking in step with her, recognizing the face of doubt in the armored woman's face.

"It's only a feeling that you have, can you wholeheartedly trust that it is enough to truly see the person that Zero is underneath his hood?"

"We might've not seen his face at all, but how he talked about his past and Yuki's was enough to convince me. The way he spoke about her father, the friendship he had with him and what he can remember of Yuki's father's time here in Fiore was all genuine." Cana knew the hooded mage tried to stand tall, but she could her the minute tones of wavering in his voice; the likes of which are nearly impossible to fake.

"Zero knew Yuki's father?" Erza asked aloud, the rabbit hole she was descending into that dealt with the identity of Zero growing deeper with another connection to an individual of Cana's past.

"He said that they were like brothers, something he had been glad to have since they were both orphaned at an early age." Cana recounted the information the ice mage told her, though it was enough for Erza to connect a few dots.

"Orphaned," She curiously asked and had another thought pop into her head, "but if he met Zero in Isvan then he was a citizen there."

"Obviously, Zero said that he came to Fiore for a journey and met me sometime when we were seventeen." The brunette inwardly sighed as she wished she could remember at least some segment of the time she spent with Gray all those years ago, although it helped Erza solve the age gap situation between Cana and Yuki.

"That means you had Yuki the following year, right?" Erza received a nod from the card mage, but she could not recall a time in which she saw Cana out of work or pregnant for that matter around that time. "But how did you manage to make ends meet if you needed to go on a maternity leave or did...umm...what was Yuki's father's name?"

"His name was Gray and yes, he helped support me during my pregnancy." Cana felt a twinge in her heart of how much Gray must have loved her during that time, but Erza's mind was racing as it was too much to be a coincidence of having a name like that. "From beginning to end, he did all he could for me and the life I carried."

"Did you catch his last name as well?"

"No, Zero only told me his first name and the things that happened after we gave Yuki up for adoption." It still left a sore spot in Cana at the fact that they'll never see each other again, thinking to herself about what could've been now that they were older. "It's funny you know, I can't help but think that Gray exhausted himself one day just trying to keep himself and me afloat with bills that needed to be payed."

A small jolt went off in Erza's mind, a familiar one that she could only claim to be like the other times she heard **his** voice in her head. What could it be this time, she didn't know as it's trigger could be any sequence or discussion happening at the given moment. She put up a neutral expression so's not to garner Cana's attention, though this time Erza wanted to find out what it had to tell her this time.

 _"I have to...I have support us."_ She didn't want to believe it, Erza didn't want to believe that her suspicions were cutting it too close to home that he and Gray Fullbuster were one and the same. " _They need me..."_

 _"What are talking about Gray, who needs you?"_ There it was, his name and it seemed she knew it as clear as day. Though Gray's tone of speech was enough so that she could tell he was really tired, even exhausted like Cana suggested.

 _"Cana and the...baby..."_ The requip mage had the sudden surge of worriment tingle down her spine as his voice slowly faded, such a strong reaction only reinforced the idea that she had been aware of the couple. So much so that she came to care for Gray's well being like that.

Erza had been aware that she had been silent for sometime, not enough so that Cana could get curious but enough to make it out that she was simply thinking to herself. The similarities, her fragmented bits of memories and the knowledge she already possessed was evidence for her to know that Cana's Gray was gone. What she wasn't aware of is if Cana knew that Gray was already dead and if she didn't, then it would make the situation much harder to get through.

"In any case, I hope Gray returns soon so that the last piece of your family is complete." The scarlet head wanted to sound optimistic for the brunette, but a look of sadness swept through her features like a waterfall and new that she had failed.

"I would've loved to see him again, not only for myself but for Yuki too. It would've been great to be a happy family, but I'm afraid that won't happen." The armored woman wasn't liking where this was going, already cursing the fact that she knew what happened ahead of time. "I'm afraid to say that he was killed during the battle with the dragons, he came all the way out here just to see me at the Games."

A sad smile appeared on the brunette's face as the one man she had given her whole heart to was one with the after life and sadly, not a shred of what his appearance was had made its way out from the depths of her memories. Life wasn't fair for some, but Cana was glad that she was still around for Yuki in Gray's stead and hoped he was looking after her. As for Erza, there was no doubt that the man she was dreaming about, the person Lucy came up with and had drawn was far more connected with them than she first thought. When she initially thought that it was all set and done with the discovery of his death, she was ready to let it go but now it only raised more questions.

"I'm sorry for your loss Cana, I'm positive Gray was a good man and would've been a great father." Erza truly felt sorry for the good life the card mage could've led with someone like Gray, but now she regrets making Zero leave as he might have had more to say about him.

"Thanks Erza, just wish I could fully appreciate it." Cana replied as her memories of Gray were nigh existent and yet her heart told her that it was all true. "It can't be helped, but I know we can manage though Yuki's still going to be a bit upset that Zero left early." The brunette cheekily added to alleviate the tension, although Erza gave an awkward cough at who it was actually intended for.

Erza fully knew that he left because of her, but if only she had been aware of all the information he possessed then she wouldn't have acted so brazenly. She concluded her search about anything relating to Gray and asked Crime Sorciere to end the investigation of Zero for their sake, but now things have grown more complicated. Gray had been associated with their guild before his death and Zero knew him very well, so why was it that none of them rang any bells to her before?

She needed answers to what exactly happened to the little ice mage's father and the further she dwelled on it, the more she realized that Yuki and her family were right about Zero intentions. What would have been the point of Zero coming here, even for reconnaissance? He was stuck with Gildarts for the most part, Natsu and herself were already willing to engage in combat at the first sight of him and what could he benefit from telling Cana that she was mother to Yuki and bringing two women to the guild for a better life? He cared for Gray like a brother and watched over his daughter until he felt that it was best for her to return to her mother.

She misjudged him, but it bothered her that even after her onslaught, he didn't show a single sign of hostility towards her. She expected him to be offended at the very least, but to simply comply with what was best suited for the city was not what she thought he'd do. He was an enigma to Erza, but so was almost all the things that have happened over the course of the past two months.

 _"Who exactly was Gray Fullbuster and why does Absolute Zero's name not travel far from it?"_ A question Erza posed on herself as their identities are nothing short of a mystery, though she hopes that whatever Meredy had to tell her could help shed some light on the subject.


	16. The Hunt for Answers Begins

The Hunt for Answers Begins

Amongst the trees of a forest in the eastern area of Fiore, Crime Sorciere were keeping out of sight of civilians, all the while Meredy sat alone on a rock with Ultear's crystal ball. The pinkette was waiting patiently for Erza to return to her guild and answer her call, under the guise that she was merely updating her about recent events. It worked for most of Meredy's guildmates, along with Mirajane who answered, but she couldn't shake the feeling that her mother didn't buy into it fully. Although it wasn't the only thing she couldn't shake off as the appearance of this long held information regarding Gray Fullbuster has been plaguing her thoughts.

She herself couldn't believe that such a thing was readily available to her, but she couldn't come clean to any of her guildmates so easily. Most of them wouldn't know what to actually do with it, Jellal would both keep it and look into it himself so's not to worry Erza and Ultear was a plain mystery. Her mother seemed the most moved at the discovery of his apparent death, but if she learned that something far worse than that might have happened to him then Meredy had no idea what the time mage would do.

"Come on Erza, please hurry." She silently pleaded to herself as she began to fidget with her fingers, hoping that the scarlet haired mage would somehow hear her.

There was plenty to say, but what was bothering her the most was how could she clearly explain how he met a fate far worse than death when he clearly died right in front of her. He met his end, but the fate he had before must be what she needed to focus on as a possibly respected mage should have been recognizable by their guildmates. That's what Meredy believed anyway, but it just goes to show that something is amiss with Fairy Tail if Gray is an unknown.

"Hello Meredy? Are you okay?" Came the questioning tone of the armored woman she was waiting for and shook herself back to reality.

"I'm fine, but before we begin is there anyone with you right now?" This was on a need to know basis and Meredy couldn't risk someone knowing this aside from a select few.

"Mira just stepped out and the masters are busy in the main guild hall, why?" There was a number of ways to answer her, but the pinkette was weary which one would express the right amount of importance to the scarlet head.

"I've gathered information on Gray Fullbuster that goes beyond anything we could have suspected about him. I fear that only those who I trust and the ones you do as well can be privy to this information." There was a major risk of whoever did the terrible deed to Gray would still want to keep their name clean, so unnecessary risks had to be avoided at all costs.

"This sounds very serious Meredy, how certain are you about this information?" She could here the caution in Erza's voice and the sensory mage knew that there was something up on her end as well.

"I have no doubt about this at all, because..." Meredy couldn't truly explain this certainty because how often had she believed knowledge she knew by the heart over the practical of her mind? Hardly ever to answer the question though sometimes a person needed to take a leap of faith and this was one such time.

"Because?"

"Because it's all information from the heart, like a memory that couldn't be forgotten no matter how hard you tried." Meredy watched Erza's expression for any sign of disbelief, but grew hopeful as she had yet to wave it off.

"I believe you Meredy, please tell me what you know." The pinkette was grateful that the armored woman was willing to listen, but she couldn't shake the feeling of apprehension that loomed over Erza on the other end.

"Alright, I've told you about his death and the moments that lead up to it, but after our last meeting I started thinking of the past." Meredy went onto a tangent about how she trusted Ultear whole heartedly and created a kill list to appease her mother until she came up to the number one on her list. "Gray Fullbuster was the top of my kill list, but all information based upon him came to me like a flowing river once I delved into his profile."

"Interesting, but you said the top positions were made up of all Fairy Tail members. Gray wasn't part of our guild at any moment, but I don't have any doubts that he's interacted with our guild in the past." There was a reason as to that, Meredy could tell that much, but she would have to wait on Erza to elaborate a little more on that later.

"That's the thing Erza, Gray was an actual member of Fairy Tail!"

"What!?" Her shock mirrored what Meredy felt once she realized this for herself and it still felt so unreal to her, even after four days. "How could that be, there is no recollection of Gray in anyone's memory and the guild's records have no account on someone like him."

"I don't understand it either, but there is plenty of information I have that proves he was one of you. Not only that, but he had made a major impact in the guild's ranking system that he was an S-class hopeful for the trials held the same day you all disappeared." Something was burdening Erza, it was much more obvious now to Meredy and it only further worried her of what this mystery holds for everyone.

"The information...can you tell me what exactly you know about him?" Meredy knew that Erza had a basic idea of who Gray was, so she knew she needed to be much more specific this time.

"He was an ice make mage, about eighteen years old from the point that I remembered, lost his family at a young age to a demon." Meredy could tell that Erza was carefully looking into each bit of information that she was giving her, so hopefully something strikes her as new. "He was an Isvani, migrated to Fiore and was a respected member of Fairy Tail becoming a well rounded member of Fairy Tail's "strongest team" consisting of yourself, Natsu and Lucy."

"He was a part of my team?" The armored woman questioned out loud and the pinkette could rightly assume that this was something she hadn't known before, well she didn't either until recently. "It could explain our different reactions about his person. Anything else?"

"Hmm, I can name a few things that I believe he's done, would that help?" Erza nodded at her to continue and all Meredy hoped for was that her memory wasn't fooling her at all. "For the record I'm unsure if these things had actually happen personally, but a bit of digging on my part says otherwise."

"At this point, anything is possible Meredy. Go with it for now, alright?" The pinkette can rely on Erza to let her feel comfortable about things, but there was only so much cryptic information she could tell before she felt like a liar or a person with no actual idea of what they're talking about.

"Here goes; Gray's managed to defeat an entire dark guild, defeat an S-class ranked sea monster with the assistance of Gildarts Clive, assisted in the defence and stopping of a prison break at the Vox, a maximum security prison, all at a very young age." The pinkette felt like she was merely saying tall tales, but this was part of what she managed to collect from her memories.

Meredy herself had trouble believing any of this information, but she had done some research of her own and discovered that these events particularly happened all in the same year with any and all eye witnesses claiming to have seen a young boy with wild spiky hair at each of these, save for the dark guild's defeat. That one had stories talking about it from word of mouth, originating from a small town a few miles were the dark guild was supposedly based at. Then again, it may not be that far fetched as Jellal had said that Erza managed to lead a rebellion at the age of nine.

"I don't have much that is very notable aside from being partners with Loke, most things of note come up until he was eighteen and had assisted in the resolvement of Galuna Island's "curse" that included the defeat of Lyon Vastia." Meredy jumped up in fright as the sound of Erza slamming her hands on the desk traveled through the communications lacrima very clearly.

"That's downright impossible, there were only the three of us in my team including Happy. There was no fourth person on that island and Natsu was the one who defeated Lyon in the end!" Meredy now knew that she was delving into uncharted territory as Erza's reaction had been uncalled for.

"I don't understand it either, but it's something I knew and that is later followed by his involvement with the fight against Phantom Lord with speculation that he was the one who helped bring Juvia over towards Fairy Tail's side." Now that one even had Meredy utterly confused as Juvia was a passionate woman who cared very deeply of all her guildmates and now Lyon, so it didn't make sense that one guy brought her over to their side. "He's been in a number of major battles Fairy Tail's had involving dark guilds, demons and has also been involved with the incident concerning the old Jellal and the Tower of Heaven."

"That doesn't make sense to me, not any of this does Meredy! These major events have all been resolved with myself and the guild, there was never an ice wizard with us in any of these events and even I would know someone being there for me when I had to face a Jellal I couldn't stand!" Meredy understood that Erza was just venting out as all the struggles she and her guild went through have always been shadowed by a man that wasn't even there if the pinkette was wrong.

"I understand that you're upset Erza, but if I'm right then I'm afraid Gray Fullbuster has met a fate far more severe before his death." It made sense to Meredy with all that is staring them in the face; the absent records, no recollection from any member of Fairy Tail and the eye witness testimonies from cases, she had forgot to mention to Erza, that were classified under Isvani law.

"I don't doubt you on that Meredy, but now I fear that Gray was erased from existence to us for something very dangerous. Something no one wants to be found out about and the dragon crisis might've played a key role in silencing a loose end." Meredy knew that Erza was by no means a conspiracy theorist, but the mystery surrounding Gray was growing much deeper with less answers than questions.

"I know it may be a bit off topic Erza, but you seem very invested with this. Can I ask why?" It was a detail Meredy picked up early on in their conversation, so she needed to ask before it slipped her mind with all this talk.

"In truth, Gray Fullbuster is Yuki Mizuno's father." Erza let it sink into the pinkette and now the sensoy mage finally had a grasp as to why the armored woman seemed to be very much into the deceased man again. "It hurts me to know that one of my own will never meet their parent again, though noble his sacrifice was it would only leave a sour feeling in me knowing that there was a possibility that he was one of us."

"I see, how did you find out about that?" It's quite surprising to Meredy that a circle of fate was created as like father, the daughter joined his guild and had taken the mantle as Fairy Tail's ice make mage. Still under investigation if he ever was a fairy though; however, the way Erza's face lit up in realization warranted a confused look from the sensory mage.

"It was by Zero, he told us about it...that son of a bitch!" Erza roared as some dots had been connected in Erza's mind if Meredy had to guess. "It makes sense now!"

"What do you mean Erza?"

"Zero told us about Gray, a bit of a sad story of his life up until we were trapped on Tenrou, our return and his death. He may have acted sincere, but he was feeding us lies and I let him walk away!" It really seemed to the pinkette that Zero had royally pissed off the scarlet head that was fuming with outrage. "He knew plenty about Gray, he must have been aware of the incident Gray was involved in and didn't bother telling anything to us."

"But Erza, even if he were lying then what would he gain from doing so? Not to mention we are still unsure whether Gray was ever a part of your family." It felt like Erza was becoming emotionally involved with this to Meredy, the sensory mage quickly deciding upon herself to be the voice of reason for now.

"Whether he was or not is not my concern right now, he existed as a human being; a father to such a sweet girl. Gray may have been a trusted member amongst us, lost to us forever in our memories and in life, while Zero holds the answers we need." The sensory mage could only gauge how accepted Gray had become to Erza due to the willingness of giving up his life so that she and Juvia would live, like a true Fairy Tail mage. "And you're right, I don't know what he stands to gain, but that doesn't mean that he needed to lie to us about him."

"I need to think things much further, I'll speak to you again at a different time Meredy. Thank you for coming to me with this information." Erza said as the pinkette gave a meek "you're welcome" before she disconnected communications, leaving Meredy to her thoughts.

 _"How far have things gotten when dealing with one dead man? This was cut and dry at the beginning when I said he died, but it's evolved into a mystery that I didn't see coming."_ Meredy thought to herself, all the while a raven haired woman pursed her lips together into a thin line from behind a nearby tree.

* * *

Back at the guild, Erza made her way towards her team who were all aware of the steam she was running on as Natsu nervously tapped his foot. No doubt fearing that he had done something stupid and had no idea what it was, simply waiting for the vocal abuse to start and quite possibly the physical one as well. Though he breathed in some air of relief as she just sat herself down, angrily might any of those sitting at the table would add, and tapped her finger impatiently. The team knew she was waiting for someone to ask her what was wrong, but none of them were that ready to say a word except for a brave(stupid?) blue cat that took the leap.

"You okay Erza, you look mad? Did Natsu destroy something again?" Happy asked as his pink haired partner paled at the fact that his blue furred friend was throwing him under the bus already.

"No, Natsu isn't in any trouble although he may need to do some explaining as to why he stopped following Zero?" The requip mage turned her glare to said dragon slayer who began to utter nonsense in rapid succession to avoid a beating.

"It happened like this Erza..." Lucy decided to take the plunge and help her nervous best friend out, recounting the events that lead up to them parting ways with the hooded mage.

"His story does drive some concern as he was here when we became our weakest and disbanded. The issue I do have is the fact that there's so much he hadn't told you two that is bothering me right now." Erza said as the two looked confusedly at each other, while Lisanna knew where the requip mage as coming from if only partially.

"What do you mean Erza?" Natsu asked as the scarlet head then pointed towards Cana and Yuki, the latter trapped in the arms of the former, who held a beaming smile that hadn't wavered. "So what? Cana always hugs Yuki when she gets the chance."

"This time she has a purpose of doing so, being that she discovered that Yuki is her daughter."

"What!?" Was collectively said between the pink and blonde duo along with the blue furred cat as it was a literal curve ball being told that Cana was a mother.

"Zero told us that himself, without a shadow of a doubt in his words did he say that Cana is the birth mother to Yuki." She was happy for them for sure, but she was irritated by the hooded man as he withheld vital information concerning Gray and his relation to Yuki, Cana and the guild.

"That's unbelievable, but then why are you angry?" Lucy dared to ask as Erza began fuming again, this time she kept it in as to not warrant any curious eyes to what was going on at her table.

"I'm angry because my whole team, alongside Cana, Gildarts and Yuki were lied to by her master." She breathed steadily and noticed the faces the pair were making, no doubt having a hard time understanding what lies Zero was telling. "He told us about her father when Cana asked about him, said he was like a brother to him and yet he wasn't being completely honest."

Erza went on to recount Zero's tale about his "brother" to the rest of her team, making sure to leave out his name for later to drive her point. Both Natsu and Lucy felt sorry about what happened to him and Cana, not to mention about Yuki not being able to meet her father again. The two mages understood the feeling, but Lisanna had been waiting for Erza to make the reveal that has been bothering the requip mage ever since they came back to the guild.

"The thing I have yet to tell you two was his name, one that you both should be familiar with." Erza waited until she was sure she had their attention. "Zero only gave a first name, but it was enough for a connection. Yuki's father's name was Gray."

"Wait you don't mean Lucy's character, I mean the guy you tried finding, right?" Natsu didn't want to think about how connected they could be, but he couldn't lie to himself that it was starting to leave an impression on him.

"Yes I am referring to him as they match nearly perfectly; the origin story, basic roots alongside his behavior and now with our knowledge of his death makes it all come full circle." The requip mage could only come to her personal conclusion that Zero wasn't aware of the fact that she knew about Gray Fullbuster beforehand, since he must have thought she was like Cana and didn't have the foggiest idea who Gray was. "It's only a theory but the coincidence is too strong for it not to be the same person."

"That's some heavy stuff Erza, but how did you figure all this out? We barely met him for a few hours at most and yet you say that he was lying to us." Lucy understood her for the most part, but the entire idea of Zero being a liar was lost on her.

"The thing that makes him a liar is for the fact that he knows more about Gray's fate than he's leading on." Erza replied, but put up a silencing finger to stop Natsu from saying that it ''couldn't be any more clearer than having a number of holes in you'' or something like that. "There's way more to Gray than what we first thought."

"Did you learn something new Erza while you were away?" Lisanna questioned and Erza nodded in reply as she learned a lot more than just "something new."

"Meredy contacted me earlier with valuable information, the type that goes above and beyond any of our expectations." It was by the interested look on Natsu's face that told the requip mage that they were giving her their undivided attention.

"Gray Fullbuster was once a member of Fairy Tail..."

Erza let it sink in and it took all of Lucy's and Lisanna's might to make sure the dragon slayer didn't fly out of his seat with astonishment. None of the three could have thought that the once main novel character for Lucy's book had actually been a member of their guild. No one had a clue who he was when Erza was showing his portrait around and yet the scarlet head was told that he was a lot closer to them. By Meredy no less as she was just as much as a no nonsense person as Ultear, so this information had to be legit.

"What's more is that he had plenty of time to show his mettle if he was an S-class hopeful for Tenrou." The requip mage then added as her team's eyes went wide with the added detail, very well aware of what it took to be even considered a hopeful.

"Wait that was...umm..." Natsu then began to count back years to try and remember that day, he was busy fighting powerful foes so he couldn't be bothered remembering dates.

"It was twelve years ago, but I don't recall a Gray being with us for the trials." He memory did serve her well enough to know that fateful day, but just remembering the years made her realize another thing. "Though the years do fall in line with Yuki's age since she is twelve and as for Cana being her mother, it is most likely due to being trapped in time for a couple of years alongside us." Lisanna voiced as the age gap was a bit of an issue until she took into consideration of being suspended in time for seven years.

"Yes I've deduced that to solve that mine age problem and as for a Gray being there at the trials; no there wasn't, in fact there was never a Gray Fullbuster to begin with and yet Meredy was very assured that all the information she relayed to me was in fact true." Sure the pinkette wasn't so sure if it was true either, but even Erza knew that Meredy was a very capable young woman that prides herself in her abilities. "It may sound completely far fetched, but I believe that Gray has been erased from existence to us and all of Fairy Tail well before his death at the claws of the dragons."

"Are you saying that Gray was actually a member of our guild before something bad happened to him?" Natsu inquired, not liking the fact that his head's been messed with if that was the case.

"It sounds like one of those mystery episodes me and Natsu sometimes watch back at home." Happy chimed in as he had remained rather silent so far, then again he had been considered to share a similar thought process like Natsu so whatever he said worked for the Exceed.

"It's not like one, it is one Happy. If Gray was truly one of us then it means we've all had our minds messed with and any information regarding him as been either taken away or destroyed." Lucy reasoned with the cat, but she began to feel a sense of foreboding concerning the fact that someone went to great lengths to make sure Fairy Tail doesn't know and forgets all about Gray.

"Oh sweet, let me get that funny looking hat I bought a while ago and my bubble pipe and we'll get started on cracking this case!" Natsu was surprisingly up for the challenge of uncovering this mystery as he held an invisible magnifying glass in his hand and up to his eye.

"Aye, sir!" Happy added to cheer on his best friend, though Lucy tried to tune them out as she began to think of it objectively as were both Erza and Lisanna.

"I don't think you should kid around just yet Natsu, we don't have much in the way of clues and I'm not really sure that we have any real leads to work with." Lisanna claimed as the dragon slayer stopped what he was doing and reluctantly agreed with his wife on that.

"What about Zero? He must have more information and I'm sure you can grill him for answers Erza." Lucy suggested as it was a very easy lead to follow, but Erza shook her head.

"We can't go with that as he's most likely a fourth of the way back to the coast by now, plus he has an irritating way of keeping his damn cool under pressure so I doubt he'll crack easily." Erza replied as even she thought about that one at first, but knew it would be a fruitless endeavor until she thought up a second lead that almost slipped her mind. "But Meredy did say he worked with a partner when he was here."

"Really? Well alright, we've got our first lead!" Natsu cheered as Lisanna and Lucy looked over at Erza questioningly, before Lucy decided to ask the obvious question.

"So who was his partner?

"Loke"


	17. The Lion's Answers

The Lion's Answers

"Oh, so what do I owe the pleasure for seeing your beautiful face again, Ultear?" Gray said flirtatiously at the ravenette, who was contacting him from his portable communications lacrima.

"Flattering your way to me won't do you any good and I highly doubt you can handle a pristine woman such as myself Gray." Ultear replied haughtily as she turned her face away from the lacrima.

The time mage herself was surprised that after making her wait ten minutes to pick up, the first thing he does is try and flirt with her. She found it unbelievable that he was acting so shameless just because they banter like that in between conversations sometimes, but not so openly as that. Still, Ultear found it a bit endearing of him even though she wouldn't admit it to him out right and especially since Meredy could be lurking around at that given moment. A bit of a paranoid thought, but the pinkette had barely given her crystal ball not ten minutes ago after her conversation with Erza. Which was the reason for her calling of Gray, if only he would act serious like he did when they first met again.

"Really now? Then why is a woman as "pristine" as yourself blushing?" He pointed out as the time mage immediately began touching her face, letting the devil slayer have himself a good laugh.

"A-Anyways, now that you've had your fun, it's time to get serious." She said, recovering from the passing moment although it seemed that her mother's former pupil was far from done.

"Come on, stay serious like that and guys won't flock to you." Immediately the time mage's mood soured at his comment, her facing showing the anger slowly creeping onto her face.

"I am a wanted criminal, having men flock to me isn't useful in the least." Ultear's annoyed expression only seemed to make the slayer smirk with mischief. "Besides, I wouldn't have any trouble finding one if I so choose to look."

"Is that right? Hmm, then I can't begin to imagine what Ur would think if she knew you grew up to be such a man slayer." Gray cheekily remarked and it gave him another laugh to see the shocked expression on the ravenette's face. "Here I thought I was the only slayer between the two of us."

"Excuse you!" That riled up Ultear enough to stand in astonishment at such a claim, she was a much more refined woman than that. "You shouldn't be talking after your two hundred conquers, playboy!"

"That number is nowhere near that high, they are more assists than conquers on Loke's behalf." Gray countered as the time mage grimaced at his claim, until she remembered what she needed to tell him.

"That reminds me why I called you in the first place." She voiced although Gray began to continuously say 'wait' over and over again for her to stop talking.

"You called me to learn about Loke's conquests? I know we've been keeping in contact ever since we saw each other, but you don't need to make up an excuse to talk to me." Gray was willing to find the time to speak with her again, given that they hadn't had anytime in the past what so ever.

"Who said I was, this is seriou-"

"No it's okay, I know you don't want to admit it out loud. I completely understand Ultear." The devil slayer was being honest and their interactions were akin to breaths of fresh air to him so he liked to treasure them in secret.

"But you've got the wro-"

"No need for you to save face, I won't laugh if you just wanted to talk for a bit."

"You're not liste-"

"Of course I am, I'm all ears."

"GRAY!" The time mage could only handle so much interruption, so it was a bit foreseeable that she'd finally snap.

"Yes?"

"Shut up for just a second..." With no witty remark to follow after from the devil slayer, Ultear let out a tired sigh of how immature he was acting until she realized that he was merely acting his age, which could apply to her too. "I have important news for you that you need to be aware of."

"How important is it?"

"Erza and her team are on the trail to learn about you."

"That's pretty important..." Gray had not expected them to begin a search for him, heck he didn't even think they knew anything regarding him with what limited information he gave them. "When did you learn about this?"

"I overheard Meredy giving Erza information regarding you before the Tenrou incident, luckily my well informed daughter is still doubtful whether they were actual facts or not." Ultear could tell that Gray didn't anticipate this since he's done well to remain off the radar for the past four years, but she believed he had some sort of contingency plan in the event of this.

"I don't think I have a way to fix this." Ultear face palmed at his words as the devil slayer wasn't as prepared as she thought he was. "Aside from that, do you have any idea as to how Meredy knows this?"

"Well my theory is that though you managed to eliminate yourself from people's memories, it's possible that some that were ingrained into a person remain." It's a hypothesis Ultear had when she was eavesdropping on Meredy really, but it's better than nothing since she is aware of how much Meredy tried to remember that much information by heart.

"The best example that I can give to you Gray is riding a bicycle. A person can learn to ride one, never get back on for years and when they do there is no difficulty for them to pedal and keep balance." It makes the most sense to her for an analogy as she's heard such a thing happen before, though this time it involves information.

"That does make enough sense to be true and you must've known by personal experience, right?" Gray asked as Ultear turned her gaze away again and another cheeky grin spread across his face. "Don't tell me you've never ridden a bike before Ultear."

"I-I have no use for such a useless trait, I have better things to do with my time." The ravenette was slowly growing both embarassed and irritated that such a thing was putting a smile on Gray's face. Seriously, it's just riding a frame on two wheels, what's the big deal? "Forget about that for now, what are you going to do about your former friends?"

"Nothing really, Meredy gave them information that has to be at least over a decade old by now. Besides, I doubt there's much in the way of leads for them to follow."

"Meredy gave them one too, that old partner in crime of yours; Loke."

"Loke? Hmm, I'm sure his memories are gone too so he won't be much help to them either. Besides, Natsu's not one who can put two and two together so easily like other people so he'll just slow them down." Gray offered, but he noticed how the ravenette still seemed unconvinced even though this is mainly his problem to address alone. "There's nothing to worry about Ultear, I doubt Mest missed out on getting to him."

* * *

"Alright cat boy, talk! Where were you the night this spiky haired dude was killed and how did you know him!?" Natsu questioned harshly, slamming a smaller copy of Gray's portrait onto the table beneath a bright light, while Loke looked perplexed with what was happening. "What, cat got your tongue?"

"What in Mavis' name are you doing Natsu!?" Loke questioned back as he tried to free himself from the chair he was tied too, although the magic cuffs that were placed on him weren't helping his attempts. " First I get called out here into this dark room and next thing I know I get tied up, magic cuffed and now your demanding answers from me!"

"I'm the big banana asking the questions around here punk and you better answer them." The pink haired slayer replied as he poured more bubble solution into his bubble pipe. "We know he was your partner in the guild, question is why is it that we don't know him?"

"I have no idea what you're going on about Natsu and what's up with that weird hat and bubble pipe!" Loke argued as Natsu began blowing bubbles from his pipe, taking it out of his mouth and sighing as he eyed the Zodiac leader.

"Come on Loke, make it easier on yourself and just answer the questions please. The sooner you do it, the sooner you can go back home to the Spirit World." The dragon slayer asked kindly and the lion spirit could only stare in bewilderment.

"Now you're the good cop?! How many characters are you!?"

At that moment Lucy decided to flip the switch on in her kitchen, completely baffled that they went through with Natsu's idea of how to interrogate Loke. As for said dragon slayer, he began to pout that Lucy stopped his idea midway through as he claimed that he almost made him crack. Although his blue furred friend was glad he could stop holding up the heavy duty flashlight over the table, since the dragon slayer claimed that the kitchen's lights didn't give the right "ambience" for what he was looking for. Soon enough both Lisanna and Erza decided to open the curtains and blinds to let Lucy's apartment be lit by the sun now that they stopped messing around in the dark.

Though they collectively agreed to leave Loke tied up in case he tried to run away, even if Lucy still had her reserves about doing such a thing to one of her spirits. She could only imagine the apology she had to give him after, then to Aries for doing that to Loke that no would no doubt lead her into an endless cycle of apologies with her. Sometimes she wondered how easily she let's herself get roped into these things.

"I doubt it would've worked at the rate you were going at Natsu. Loke played the straight man a bit too much for it to go anywhere." Lucy voiced out as she plopped herself onto her couch, while Erza went over towards Loke.

"Natsu has a point when it comes to what we are doing, so you're going tell us all that you know about this young man, Loke." The scarlet head moved the copy closer to him and the lion spirit merely gave it few seconds before shrugging his shoulders.

"Never seen the guy before, is he one of Lucy's ex's? I'll be glad to teach him a lesson for you if that's what you want." Loke would always be willing to hunt those guys down once they broke up as he logged every mistake they did while dating his blonde master.

"No he isn't you idiot! He's a mage that has passed away, but we've gotten word that he was a Fairy Tail member." Lucy watched as her spirit gave it another once over, watching the minor twitch in his lip as he turned his gaze away from it.

"Sorry Lucy, I can't help you. I've never seen this guy before, even if he was a Fairy Tail member." Loke replied before he recoiled in fright as Erza slammed her hand onto the table, glaring harshly into the strawberry blonde's eyes.

"You're lying, tell the truth right this instant Loke. You know something that we don't." The lion spirit shifted in his seat for a bit under Erza's glare, but didn't lose his composure in the end.

"I'm telling you guys that he doesn't ring any bells, now let me go if we're done here." Loke demanded as everyone in the apartment noticed his sudden change in behavior, though he tried to mask it with annoyance.

"Everyone, please leave the apartment. I will notify you when you can return." Erza said calmly, Lisanna understanding completely as she picked up Happy and took Natsu by the hand to lead him out.

"But this is my hou-"

"Now!"

"Yes ma'am!" Lucy squeaked as she ran for the door, though Loke was privy to one final sadistic grin from Natsu before he closed the door and left him at the hands of the armored woman.

Outside of Lucy's door, Natsu placed his ear against it while the others waited at the bottom of the stairs for what he would say. They watched as an evil grin lit up on his face before it slowly vanished and not long after, so was the color from his face. His eyes were wide like saucers as he shakily climbed down the steps until he reached the bottom and hugged himself tightly. Lisanna and Lucy grew worried for the dragon slayer while Happy tried to get a peak from the window, but Erza had closed the curtains and blinds again.

"What did you hear Natsu? What was Erza doing to Loke?" Lucy nervously asked as the dragon slayer shook with fear, muttering something about being nice to Erza over and over again. "Natsu?"

"You don't want to know Lucy, trust me you don't!" Natsu replied in a panic as he could never imagine himself going through that and coming back normal. "Trust me when I say that I'd rather ride a train for a week than anything Erza said she'll do to Loke."

Lucy was well aware that Erza could be terrifying, much more than any villain they've ever faced and at that moment she was getting flashbacks of the first time she heard about Erza. How Natsu made her out to be a monster capable of bringing down a mountain and she feared for life of how she'd react to her. Her knees shook in both fear and worry about her spirit, the unknown fate he must be going through eating at her to know if he's still in one piece.

"I'll talk! I'll talk! Please Erza, I tell you anything just stop!" Came Loke's cries before Erza emerged from the window and calling them back inside, though the group was worried in what state they'd find the lion spirit in.

Slowly the trio plus Happy walked into Lucy's apartment (float in Happy's case), looking around for any signs of blood or loose teeth, but were surprised that the only thing they found was Loke in tears still strapped to the chair. Looking around some more, the group saw Erza standing next to Aries as she held little black books in her hands. The group looked confusedly at the duo before the ram spirit bowed and disappeared with the books back into the Spirit World, while Erza began making her way towards them.

"I didn't do much to him if you're wondering. I simply confiscated his little black books of all the girls he's been with and read about six pages to Aries, who I had hiding in the bathroom in case Loke wanted to be rebellious."

"But... what about all the things you said you'd do to him?" Natsu cautiously asked as Erza sent a look his way, immediately recoiling behind Lisanna.

"I said all those things since I was aware that you of all people would want to eavesdrop when I specifically told you to leave." Even Erza knew that Loke would barely survive a quarter of the things she'd do him, but it still worked to scare them both nonetheless.

"Now with that over with, start talking Loke."

"...Okay, I knew him alright. His name's Gray Fullbuster and was my partner for three years. Pretty good one at that since I trusted him to watch my back. Last I saw him was four years ago and I haven't seen hide nor hair since then." He admitted, knowing that it could only go worse for him now that Erza's taken the place of interrogator.

"You're lying again Loke, Gray's been dead for five years. I'm starting to think that you're willing to say anything to get out of here." Erza said as she began to crack her knuckles loudly, surprisingly while still wearing her gauntlets. "I only want to hear truth from you Loke, else you'll have an even bigger problem explaining your escapades to Aries."

"No I'm serious! I don't know where you got the idea that he was dead, but I swear he was alive the last time I saw him." The last thing Loke wanted was to upset Aries and he desperately had to give up on listening to whatever Mest made him promise two years ago.

"Then why is it that we don't recall you ever having a partner, Lucy doesn't count as she hasn't been around as much as we have." Natsu asked this time and though he was willing to give up on his promise of silence, Loke wasn't about to outright tell them everything. Though he would be willing to give a vague idea if it meant that they'd leave him alone.

"I don't have an answer for that, but have you ever thought about external reasons being behind it?" It's as big of a hint that he'll ever give to them, all his master and her teammates had to do was figure it out. "I mean, your options are either he doesn't exist or something else happened to you guys directly."

"That sounds plausible, wouldn't be the first time magic was used to erase, even manipulate people's memory; the dragon incident is one event I can think of." Lisanna chimed in as the kingdom has implemented such a method to keep the people unaware that the event was very much real.

"If that's the case then how is it that he isn't affected by our supposed memory loss by the hands of an unknown?" Lucy questioned as it would only seem logical that if Gray Fullbuster needed to be erased from memory, then his partner's memories had to go as well although her train of thought stopped when Natsu snapped his fingers.

"Middle school, my dear Johnson." Natsu said as he blew a few bubbles out of his pipe before taking it out of his mouth.

"I don't think that's how the saying goes Natsu." Lucy deadpanned as she couldn't believe that her best friend ruined such an iconic line in literature.

"Are you sure? I thought that's how you say it so you don't get in trouble with certain people." Natsu said as he heard the troubles people get into for using things without permission, like stealing although it's just a bunch of words. He was aware of it, but the concept didn't make any sense to him since it's just words that people use every day, although not in that order.

"Well yes, but...um..." For once, Lucy didn't have a remark to make as the dragon slayer was right in that regard, although she wasn't sure if such a thing included saying it out loud or if it was just specific to writing it down.

"I guess he got you there Lucy." Lisanna jokingly commented although she herself was rather curious with her husband's phrasing. "But I am wondering why did you say "middle school" earlier?"

"Well my guess is complicated so I don't think little kids would understand, but the ones that are slightly older would get it easier. Like the ones around Yuki's age." Natsu explained as everyone waited patiently for him to continue. "What?"

"Go on Natsu, explain your guess." Lisanna encouraged as the pink haired slayer made a face of understanding and cleared his throat, swaying his bubble pipe as he began to pace.

"Right, well if a memory wiping magic was used then it would make sense for us to be affected, but the people who did it hadn't thought about Loke being a spirit." Natsu began as the others slowly began to follow his thought process, even though he hasn't explained much yet. "Since Loke's a spirit, things like that won't affect his mind like the rest of us."

"Good theory Natsu, but I don't think it holds together all too well. Loke is still affected by magical attacks and physical ones too, even rune barriers stop him." Lucy voiced out, but the strawberry blonde had yet to utter a sound of agreement with his master. "Plus his mind is still susceptible to magic like it, the Eclipse King incident we went through made that pretty obvious since he lost the sense of who he was and took on an extreme persona."

"Yeah, but it only happened after a powerful magical artifact, the Eclipse Gate, was destroyed for it to happen. Plus your spirits are always healed from all wounds and negative effects when they go back home don't they?" The group all had astonished looks on their faces at how coherent Natsu's theory is as the memory wipe magic needed to be powerful enough to affect Loke and if it was weak than the Spirit World would have cleansed any remnant of the magic off of him.

"Looks like you've grown smarter Natsu and you're right, I have a pretty solid mind that won't easily be influenced and the Spirit World does do those things for us." Of all people, Loke hadn't expected Natsu to correctly guess why Mest's attempts on him failed before the teleportation mage finally gave up.

"Way to go Natsu, you might have just given us another clue as to why we don't know anything about Gray." Lucy had to give praise to the dragon slayer as those detective shows he's been watching with Happy may have been helping out his critical thinking skills. "But wait, you explained how Loke remembers so why is that Meredy remembers a lot about him when she said she barely knew him before?"

"Oh! I've got another theory for that too," The pink haired slayer said as he began going through Lucy's kitchen drawers. "It came to me when I thought about how I would knock out the bastard who messed with my head... Here we go!"

Almost at the blink of an eye, Natsu turned on his heel and threw a kitchen knife at an unsuspecting Erza who wasn't paying him much attention. Before Lucy could even warn the requip mage to dodge, a shining metal blade immediately parried the knife away and into one of the blonde's walls.

"What in the hell was that Natsu!?" Lucy screeched as she couldn't believe the dragon slayer would do something so dangerous. "Someone could have gotten seriously injured."

"I was showing you how Meredy knew all those things about Gray; the same way Erza knew to block the knife without even knowing it was coming at her." Both his wife and Lucy were at a loss at how the demonstration meant anything, but Erza had actually understood what he meant. "Do I have to spell it out for you? It means that she knew it by heart!"

"By heart? Isn't it just by reflex in Erza's case though?" The white haired Dragneel was positive that parrying the knife was due to the requip mage's skill as a swordswoman.

"No he's somewhat right Lisanna, I trained myself to know all my offensive and defensive abilities to heart. In a sense, I believe if I were to suffer from amnesia my body would automatically know how to wield a blade, like it is a part of me." The argument involving such a thing could go on for days amongst many people, but Natsu's explanation could very well suffice for now. "Meredy had mentioned to me that her "To Kill" list was her livelihood and once she completed it, then she would have been forever content with the praise Ultear would give her. All because Meredy did it just for her."

Erza was amazed that Natsu was finding out useful clues for them one after the other; the discovery that a third party is a possible cause is much more evident and memories that have embedded themselves into the heart are much more secured than those of the mind. Though it only served to confuse the scarlet head as this has shed some light for her. Could it mean that her dreams are actually memories she has forgotten about Gray? The reason she struggled to accept wholly was for the that she is unsure what exactly is it that made those memories embed themselves into her heart.

 _"Why were those memories special?"_

"Awesome, I told you guys that I'm smart!" Natsu cheered as Happy eagerly agreed with him to boost his ego some more.

"Good for you Natsu, but can you enlighten us about the Johnson part you said?" Lisanna asked as the name sort of felt out of place, then again the whole saying in general did.

"Hmm? Oh I don't know, I just liked the name and it kind of rhymes with the other one." Leave it to Natsu to give some of the simplest of answers after such insightful ideas, but that was the way their dragon slayer was.

"Now with that settled with, we should get back on task to get more information and given to what we've discovered as being useful thus far, I'm sure there are some more things you can tell us Loke." Erza spoke up and the lion spirit began to sweat bullets as he thought he was finally in the clear.

"No use in lying to you Erza, I've got two more things that could be useful but that's it. I don't know much else." The spirit waited for the requip mage's answer and was glad she nodded in acceptance. "First piece I've got to say is that you should speak with Leo's Groundskeeping Company about a place under Fairy Tail's jurisdiction."

"Alright and the what's the second?" Erza asked as Loke momentarily hesitated before he looked right back at the scarlet head in the eye.

"Head to the Magic Council Headquarters, find a way to get access to the maximum security detention area and locate the prisoners of war from the Alvarez conflict we had." Loke wasn't sure who else truly knew what he did, but there wasn't a doubt in his mind that said he couldn't count them with his fingers.

"Once we make it down to that level is there someone we should look for or learn about?" Lucy asked a bit nervously as these were prisoners who had to serve time in Fiore for their war crimes before the Alvarez Empire can reclaim their people.

"Just one Spriggan, I don't think any you've managed to fight him during the war."

"Alright, what's this guy's name?" Natsu wasn't afraid of any Spriggan as he's accomplished much more than a simple one and has gotten much stronger in the past four years than they have sitting in a prison cell.

"His call sign was: Winter General"


	18. What We've Discovered - Old Enemies Knew

What We've Discovered; Old Enemies Knew

It took a few favors with a few council workers Gajeel worked with, a number of calls that Erza had to make and a cashed in favor from Jura for them to get access to the cells at the Magic Council headquarters, but it all seemed worth it to the requip mage. It took a few days to get all the of this together and large amounts of convincing to get this far, but if whoever this Winter General is, he should have more answers than what they were dealing with. It was hardly the ideal outcome for Erza and her team to rely on an old Alvarez Spriggan to say anything concerning Gray and whether he was still alive during the war or if Loke was leading them astray.

Lucy herself didn't wish to believe that one of her spirits would lie to her, but to be directed to a Spriggan of all people wasn't what she had in mind to know more about Gray. This Gray business was pushing Erza further than it ever did before, mostly due in part of the fact that he had been a Fairy Tail mage even before she joined. Supposedly. The blonde herself needed something much more concrete to be convinced with all that is happening to Erza.

In any case, that supposedly was enough reason for Erza to hunt any and all leads she can get her hands on as Lucy believed the more they discovered, the more truth Erza began to hear in the words they heard. The requip mage told them everything that she knew from Ultear and Meredy, which was reason enough to believe that there was something important in the retellings about the ice mage. Though the spirit mage was becoming worried for her scarlet haired friend as she was becoming nearly obsessed with discovering something that was going on behind their backs. It didn't help that Natsu was enjoying himself playing detective, Happy encouraging his behavior and Lisanna was just along for the ride.

To be honest, Lisanna herself was keeping an eye on both Erza and Natsu as she hasn't been herself in recent days and she wasn't the only one to notice. Master Makarov had begun seeing the changes bit by bit, followed by her elder sister who became concerned for her former rival's state of mind. The youngest Strauss had never seen the requip mage in such a state before, it reminded her of how the guild in Edolas would react when a rumor of the old kingdom was onto their location or if someone had ratted them out. It was like a witch hunt which left someone with more than a few broken bones, but Lucy Ashley made sure it was as far as it went...sometimes.

As for Erza's case, she seemed composed for the most part as they strolled through the Council's headquarters, but Lisanna could see the slightest twitch her hand would make. The only thing that kept her so still instead of rushing her way through the building was the fact that Jura was guiding them around, plus a complement of Council guards came with them. They were going to visit a former Spriggan after all, so the added security was a must if not mandated as a prison break wouldn't do any good for those in the immediate area.

Lisanna had to admit that it was the first time she's been inside the Magic Council on non-guild related business, although she could deal without all the stares the workers were giving them. It unnerved her how everyone made a major deal when even a handful of Fairy Tail mages make an appearance in the Council, but they soon came to pass as they entered an elevator. She felt them travel floors upon floors downward, the guards becoming rather antsy with their gear and Natsu making any available noise as he became motion sick even though the elevator wasn't much of a vehicle.

"Make sure to stay with us at all times, these are all highly wanted criminals we keep monitored at all times." Jura said as they stopped on their designated floor and the Fairy Tailers were met by another company of guards that were waiting for them.

The man in charge saluted to Jura before instructing everyone to follow him, though a few guards had to help Natsu move as he had yet to recover. Floating anti-magic prisons surrounded them as they passed, some of which housed old enemies long defeated and one who cared enough to acknowledge their presence was Daphne.

"Look what we have here, I didn't expect for any of you to pay a visit." She smiled widely as she looked down from her floating prison, her home for the past eleven years. "Yes, yes, yes, you should've called first. Maybe I would've tidied up myself a bit more."

"Too bad this isn't for you, they're here for a much bigger fish." A guard commented as she sent him a glare, these rookies never really understood the extent of why she was there most of the time.

"No need to be a spoil sport yes, yes. Show some respect for the woman who trapped the legendary Natsu Dragneel in an artificial dragon." She gloated and not even Natsu could forget the feeling of almost losing himself inside that damn contraption, though he wasn't sure how he fell for it at the time.

"Don't hold your breath on me believing that, lady." He replied uncaringly and Daphne smiled to herself as this was pretty much most of the social banter she'd get day in and day out.

"All of this is true, no lies coming from my mouth." Daphne said as she eyed the sickly looking dragon slayer. "Ask for yourself and see what my great genius has done in the past."

"I still got free, the City without Sound was liberated from your spell and you wound up in prison Daphne." Natsu spoke up, though a little out of breath, and while trying his best to make sure it was the right name as he sifted through his memories.

"Right you are yes, yes, yes. Though if it weren't for a mutual friend a lot of those things wouldn't have happened. Both our imprisonments and my defeat." She replied with a nostalgic look on her face, though the Fairy Tailers had no idea of who she was referring to.

"What mutual friend?"

"What?" Daphne was sure she heard that right, it wasn't her ears playing tricks on her when she heard that the Salamander didn't know she was alluding to Gray, was it? "You're joking, right? I mean he pretty much sealed the deal for most of what happened that day."

The puzzled look he wore was enough for the creator of Metamo to know that her old partner was no longer with them or something much bigger was afoot. Daphne noticed how annoyed the Titania was becoming with their conversation, so it meant that the person they were meeting was deeper in the cells. They really are going to speak with a big fish then, but for what reason would they need to?

Still, she needed to know how the handsome young man she knew was doing, even if he backstabbed her, but then again she would've done the same. Although she won't say it outright since she needed to test the waters, all of them don't seem to know who she was talking about so there had to be more to it.

"Well whatever, at least tell that hunk of a man hi for me will you? It'll jog his memory of the day he helped put you in my Dragonoid." She giggled to herself as they all continued walking in their previous direction, but she wanted Natsu to at least have some idea of who she was talking about.

"I know I can't forget that beautiful ice magic of his." She added in a whisper, but it was enough for her to notice the sudden twitch of the Salamander's ear and she knew she got him.

A devious smile crept onto her face as he continued to look back at her, even though they didn't stop walking and she wondered what gears were turning in his head now. When looking for answers, she knew how foolishly expressive a person can become and she loved to manipulate the need to know anything. Not much of a grand experiment, but it was worth something instead of just sitting idly in her prison.

* * *

When it came to Natsu, he couldn't get the fact that he heard the crazy scientist of a woman say how she missed whoever she was mentioning's ice magic. Now it was one thing to look for clues as a true detective, but to find one out in the open needed to be explored although he didn't think it would be a good idea to tell Erza about it at the moment. They sped through a number of anti-magic prisons in great successions because of her and she would ignore whatever comment came her way, even one from a lady in a loose kimono with white hair who looked a bit pleased to see her. Though the dragon slayer wasn't very happy to see that old bird brained owl dude he fought some years ago as he started shouting some nonsense about justice.

It was actually the first time he witnessed all those people he helped put in prison and it reminded him of what they've all been through because of it. What actually struck him as odd was that as he looked over all the prison cells, he didn't see the one housing the old guildmaster of Phantom Lord anywhere. There were plenty he saw from after the fight with Phantom Lord, but the defeated ex-guildmaster was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey council guy, where's the prison holding that Phantom Lord guild master?" Natsu asked one of the guards as he looked around and seemed to have remember something as he turned to face forward again. "What, not gonna tell me?"

"It's on a need to know basis."

"Oh I get it, someone's gonna lose their job if you say that he's missing, huh?" The guard did not reply to him after that and Natsu had now discovered that Jose Porla had escaped prison. "Don't worry about him, he's no match for Fairy Tail anymore."

That was it, conversation wise, as they all continued to make their ways through corridors and even more floating prisons which now even Lucy was surprised to see that they had been housing so many criminals throughout the years. Erza on the other hand kept close to Jura as he led them all, the bald man going as fast as he could, knowing that the requip mage was doing everything in her power from blitzing him to the end of the corridor. Luckily they had finally arrived at the main entrance of the Ultra security ward, which has seen major improvements after the former members of Oracion Seis and Jellal had managed to escape from here in the past.

"Keep in mind that this prisoner is very much educated with his words, meaning that he'll draw you into a verbal trap to get a rise out of any of you. It's how he passes the time." Jura said as he signaled the guards to open the sealed entrance, slowly guiding them through the various cells they passed.

It wasn't long before they arrived to the "Alvarez" block, where Fiore still holds a number of prisoners to serve their time before the Empire would take them back to serve the rest of their sentences. Many were high ranking officers with magical talent that are on par with S-class ranked mages and near the end stood a lone man with cold, calculating eyes. Lucy and Lisanna shared the same thought of this individual being their man, but the blonde really wasn't a fan of his gaze and it was unnerving her.

"Oh my, has the realm of freedom come to bless my humble being with a visit by the victors of my former King's war?"

"So you're this Winter General guy, right?" Natsu asked as he stepped up to the front, not swayed by the cold and unreadable gaze the white haired man was giving him.

"I see my reputation exist out there after all, 'twas a title I prided myself in under my King's rule but now it is nothing more than a hollow name." He replied as Natsu gave him a confused look and decided that it was best he saved the more interesting aspects of this visit for the other three. "Now I go by my name of Invel Yura, for whatever that is worth to you."

"Jura, can you please give us some time with the prisoner?" Erza requested, but the earth mage seemed against the idea even if she had clearance on par with a guild master though he still tried to figure out how she got that if she had yet to become the next one of Fairy Tail.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I need to remain nearby, a condition that was imposed onto me so that I can get you this meeting." He replied and Natsu clicked his tongue to himself, but the requip mage gave him a subtle pinch to shut him up.

"How interesting that you'd prefer to question royalty instead of honor her word." Invel voiced as Erza immediately glared at him, full knowing as to what he was referring to.

"Royalty?" Jura echoed as Erza quickly raised her voice so that the attention was placed on her.

"Ignore him, he's mostly likely mocking the title of Titania that I possess. I ask once again Jura that you leave him to us, there's no doubt he won't answer our questions with all of us here." The earth mage contemplated the idea once again, this time he understood how right she was as Invel found enjoyment when playing with his words on a large group of people.

"Very well, but the guards and I will not be very far if you need us." He gave one more stern look towards the prisoner and bowed his head to the Fairy Tail mages.

The area quickly cleared out and all that remained was Erza and her team with Invel alone in his cell, but a smirk was adorned on his face. He was very well aware that these Fairy Tailers were on personal business that was only meant for those within their inner circle and he had something they wanted.

"I'm rather surprised that you don't acknowledge your heritage, you are after all the Princess of Dragonslayers." Invel commentated as Natsu immediately turned to face Erza in shock, which he wasn't alone in as both Lisanna and Lucy soon followed.

"You're a princess?" Lucy questioned as she knew Erza to have her title of a queen, but that was just a title whereas there is a real possibility that she is royalty.

"Of dragonslayers?" Of course Natsu didn't even know that there was a hierarchy amongst dragonslayers, let alone being a subject to a ruler that so happened to be his friend.

"Now this is rather surprising, daughter to the woman who brought about the dragonslayers and yet I do believe you don't care much for Irene." He watched as the requip mage's eye twitched in minor anger at his words, though this was rather amusing to him all the same.

"Whether I choose to accept it is of my own decision and as for Irene, she may have been my birth mother but my true family is Fairy Tail." The others had noticed that Invel already pressed Erza's buttons so easily and really wondered what was the story behind that.

"Resolute as ever I see, very much like Irene. She always liked to profess to us other Spriggans that she decided what was important to her." Invel replied causing Erza to grimace at how accurate Jura had been when he mentioned about Invel's ways of enjoyment.

"Let's just cut the crap and get down to why we really are here for." Natsu spoke up, knowing that they'd only fall deeper into his trap if they stayed off topic.

"Quite so Salamander or should I call you Natsu?" The pure ice mage asked as Natsu replied to him with a snarl, knowing that he was not on his favorites list. "Doesn't really matter in the end, but I can immediately guess a portion of your visit."

"You think so? Then tell us if you're so smart."

"Naturally gifted to be precise, anyways; you came seeking myself or any other imprisoned Spriggan for some sort of information that only we would possess." Invel watched the faces of the Fairy Tailers and knew he had hit the nail right on the head, or so how Fioreans would say anyways. "For what exactly, remains to be seen."

"Judging by your great Titania's reaction, I doubt she wants to know more about her mother and the life she led before they confronted each other on the battlefield. So it may fall to you, Natsu, and a personal wish to discover a bit more of my former king; your elder brother." Studying the dragon slayer's face, the white haired man could tell that that wasn't it either and moved his gaze towards the blonde.

"Ah, perhaps they've come for you my beautiful visitor with the gold tresses. Though I can't rightfully remember your name, your person is similar in description to that of an old associate of my king's when he mentioned her on those few rare occasions." Lucy had actually been surprised to the fact that Zeref would even mention Ana at all. "Sadly I do not know much of her aside from the fact that she assisted in opening the Eclipse Gate to send the young dragon slayers and herself to our era."

"You've got some guesses, I'll give you that but it looks like you're not even close." Natsu interjected, crossing his arms as Invel took on a more contemplative stance.

"So it would seem, although now I'm curious as to what importance does your fourth party member seem to have to come visit me? She was insignificant enough to not garner my attention for the most part, though now I wonder who she is." Invel stared at the other white haired individual in the immediate area, his red eyes boring into her ocean blue ones.

Natsu immediately stepped in front of her in a protective manner which gave Invel a hint for her relationship to the group aside from being their guildmate. His hypothesis was solidified once he noticed the gleaming rings on each of their left ring fingers and leaned against a wall in satisfaction of his observational skills.

"Protective aren't you? It matters not to me, just another reason for an old enemy to fight as hard as you did during the war. Even if you weren't an item at the time."

"Enough, we are wasting time with this idle chatter." Erza had finally been placed at the end of her rope, she wanted answers and it took her too many days to get to this point for side conversations. "You know about a mage we are looking into Invel, he was supposedly killed before your invasion and yet someone directed us to you since you came across him."

"My dear Ms. Scarlet, or should I say Belserion, you remain vague as to the identity of this man you are searching for. If I truly knew who this man was, I would very much like a description or a name to go off by."

"You will refer to me as Erza Scarlet and I know you are feigning ignorance as to whom I am talking about." The scarlet haired beauty was aware of the fact that Invel seemed to be expecting to see someone else with them, Gray no doubt was the who and him being a supposed Fairy Tail mage would make sense for the deceased ice mage to be around.

Invel's stern gaze became one of understanding mixed with hints of confusion, why would they claim **that** specific mage to be dead before their confrontation if he was very much alive standing beside Natsu and his friends? Though he wasn't about to let these Fairy Tailers see his confusion to her claim as it was a sign of weakness. Still, the question remained as to why they'd come to him to understand anything about the only other ice mage to ever best him.

"So it would seem that you wish for me to shed some light on Gray Fullbuster, correct?" Erza and Natsu had steeled their faces once he spoke the name, but the other two were enough to tell him that their precious world had one piece missing. "The only other ice mage to defeat me in combat, one on one."

"So you did know Gray then." Natsu said, more like accused, as he stepped closer to Invel's cell. The curiosity he had just expressed was the easily recognizable desire of knowledge concerning this subject, something Invel had appreciated having all the power in.

"So the tormented ice mage of Fairy Tail has gone missing, better yet, he's supposedly dead. I would've thought you dealt the finishing blow to him near the ending of the final battle." He was speaking to Natsu, though he kept his gaze spread out to take in all their expressions. "After all, I forced him over the edge."

"You did what!?" He was actually amused that it was Erza who had questioned him so harshly, but it needed further investigation to the extent of her connection to Gray.

"It was rather simple all things considered, but I was proven wrong in my initial calculations of how it would happen. Nonetheless, it still did and I, as much as I believed at the time, created a great warrior to defeat the one being standing in the way of my king's great goal." He stared at Natsu as he spoke, the dragon slayer becoming unnerved at the fact that he too knew what he was talking about.

"You caused Gray to want to kill me, didn't you?" The pink haired slayer asked as Invel nodded his head, glad to see that he was keeping up. "Zeref made me to kill him, why would you want Gray to finish me off?"

"Zeref, as you all seem to call him here, wanted to create a world he controlled where all the negatives and injustices that he had seen would never exist. Starting with the death of his family or so I was told anyways, his true goals were always hidden in secrecy even from me."

"What does that have to do with Gray going off to kill Natsu?" Lisanna had chimed in this time, much to Invel's interest as he didn't believe her to have anything noteworthy to add to the conversation.

"Everything my dear, I wanted to see his goal completed and all that stood in his path was a demon he created in the past. Gray was the best solution, a means to an end to put it simply." The white haired ice mage replied though he waited for the important questions yet to be asked. "I could only imagine the absolute destruction those two powers caused once they met on the battlefield."

"Natsu only awakened for barely a few minutes at most, but his power was monstrous during that time. It would be impossible for a regular ice mage like Gray was to even stand a chance against him at the time." Erza pointed out though Invel allowed himself a momentary smile at how little they knew of their own former guild member.

"My, how ill informed you all are. A man set into a rage is nigh unstoppable; his anger boosting his power to unbelievable levels." Invel could only imagine how far Gray's power could've gone if he had survived his encounter with E.N.D. "Watching the death of a person you deeply care for does that to a man, I learned this the hard way."

"That's how you pushed him over the edge, you killed someone right before his eyes, you bastard!" Natsu wished he could pummel Invel's pompous face, looking so high and mighty within his cell just because he was in control of his own memories. "Who was it, huh? Tell me so that I can get their rightful justice on your ass!"

"As much as I doubt you can do that, they were another insignificant enemy in the grander view of the war. As far as I can recall, she was of fair skin, hair as blue as the sea and wielded the magic to match. She also seemed to be infatuated with Gray from what I can assume."

"That sounds a lot like Juvia, but that's impossible since she's still alive at the guild." Natsu glared at the ice mage as now he was lying to them, though he sounded quite convinced that she died.

"Really now? Last I saw of her, she was bleeding out from a self inflicted wound in order to free Gray from my Ice Lock, but he too had a similar idea. It of course was enough to send your ice mage into a bloodthirsty rage, I think for the sole purpose that the water mage gave up her life for him." A curious thing to this day, for Invel had no true idea of how Gray managed to get back up and fight him with full force. "Aside from that, I had not accounted for his other abilities that sealed my downfall."

"So you made Gray bare witness to Juvia's supposed suicide attempt, threw him into a rage and didn't see his others abilities before it was too late? You had me going for a bit, but your story doesn't hold much weight with me." Natsu crossed his arms as so far Invel wasn't giving anything concrete and his claims don't ring true since Juvia has been in love with Lyon since forever.

"Believe what you may, but you of all people should have needed to fear him. With E.N.D. residing within you, it only served as a hinderance in a continued fight."

"What's that supposed to mean? Lucy tells me that I managed to beat Dimaria in her time stopped world or whatever it was, so how could he beat me?" He's faced ice mages before so Natsu was unsure how any other run of the mill mage could beat him, even if he was a Fairy Tail mage too.

"Don't be so overconfident Natsu, I considered him my equal during our fight so I wouldn't be quick to judge if I were you." The ice mage watched all the confused faces of his visitors as their knowledge continued to be proven limited as he was giving them as much as he knew.

"So why does that matter to me? I can beat you no problem, so I don't see the point of him being your equal." Such was an arrogant claim the great Natsu Dragneel made, not as subtle as his elder brother, but Invel can see how boastful the two could be.

"Because he was a slayer, an ice devil slayer to be exact. The one being that possessed the power to bring even you to your knees." Invel countered as there was such great potential the ice mage had to topple even a supreme demon like E.N.D. "Though as it stands dragon slayer, you came out on top and Gray is now resting in a grave somewhere."

"There's such a thing as a devil slayer?" Lucy questioned, although she should have seen it coming as there are already dragon and god slayers in Fiore. It was a question she asked to occupy her mind over the fact that Natsu could be responsible for Gray's actual end.

"Technically there **was** a devil slayer, but now there isn't. Sadly for you, this is all I know about Gray Fullbuster, try your luck elsewhere if you wish to know more." Invel turned away from the mages, he found little to amuse himself from them and decided to cut his losses.

The white haired man didn't bother turning around again and the Fairy Tailers decided that this was the end of their lead concerning Gray, but it was enlightening all things considered. That of course came as little comfort as Invel had directly pointed out that Natsu was the probable cause for his death and it left a sinking feeling in his gut. Erza herself was doing everything in her power to stop from pointing fingers and coming to a rash conclusion, but Invel seemed so sure of himself that a part of her had to wonder if the pink haired slayer actually did it. The mood in general was far worse than when they first walked in as one of their own faced the fact that he may have killed the man they were searching for when he had no real control of himself, but who could really say if Invel was merely saying those things to spite them.

In minor defeat, they had decided to leave him alone and struggle with coming up with other leads until a scoff was heard from another nearby cell. Natsu searched it out until he came a across a blonde haired man with a steely gaze, but the dragon slayer drew a blank to his identity.

"I can't believe you all are looking for that traitor, then again he probably back stabbed you too if the oh so great "Winter General's" story is true." He hated the cell placement as the Alvarez bastard acted so high and mighty with his militaristic expertise and his quick judgments of where one's faults were.

"Who are you?"

"Are you serious!?" The man looked flabbergasted that Natsu had no real idea who he was, how could the dragon slayer not recognize him. "It's me, Jerome. Surely at least you remember me, Titania?"

"You sound familiar although I too do not recall who you are. Be a little more specific and then maybe I can have a general idea." The name sounded like she should know it, but Erza struggled to correctly place him on a mental timeline of enemies she fought.

"I was a leading member of a cult of Zeref, Avatar if you can recall! You defeated a summoned war god in that battle Salamander!" Jerome's eyes couldn't believe that the dragon slayer was taking time to think this through carefully. It was a feat he couldn't begin to imagine, only topped when he had gotten word of Alvarez' defeat at the hands of Fairy Tail and the death of Zeref by Natsu Dragneel.

"Now I remember you," Erza spoke up as she did recall having been watching the cult for a time and seeing what they had in store as a cult, "the blade wielder that didn't last much against me."

"I... can't argue with those words. At least it counted as some sort of recognition." Jerome had thought he had at least gotten something of higher value than that, but he truly wasn't a match for the requip mage at all.

"But you mentioned something about Gray didn't you? Tell us what you know." That was an interesting request coming from the dragon slayer as Jerome had thought that Gray was a Fairy Tail mage or perhaps he was a mercenary hired by the then defunct Fairy Tail?

"The best god damned mage of his class I've ever encountered, I could tell you that much. He shot through the ranks of our cult so easily and managed to deceive us all in his intentions." He always doubted Gray since his background was glaringly apparent, but the ice mage had been so sure of what he wanted that Jerome fell for it. "Good riddance if you ask me, bastard didn't want anything to do with our goal. He was simply using us to find a way to locate E.N.D. and destroy it."

A silence soon followed as the Fairy Tail mages were unsure how to respond, as it would seem that Natsu was the true culprit Gray had been searching for. One thing that came of this however, was that the ice mage's hunt for the demon had started much earlier to begin with and the fact that he was a part of Avatar before defecting or something like that. He must've been desperate if he joined a cult worshipping Zeref to advance his goals.

"Is there anything else you'd like to add Raging?" Jerome said as a dark skinned woman with white hair and a face to match her name made herself known in a nearby cell. "You've only talked about him all the time for the first, what? Couple of months? Maybe close to a full year?"

"Shut it Scruffy, I dropped the topic a long time ago. It only made me even angrier, like it is now!" She huffed, the mages all curious to know exactly who this person was, but context told them that the two were acquaintances of some sort.

"And I thought Natsu was bad at giving names." Lucy commented as the woman's parents had decided to use an emotion to name their child, just like Happy was named by the dragon slayer.

"I'm afraid you're wrong my dear, it's only a nickname I gave her as she is part of one whole person separated by her clone magic. Her actual name is Briar and if you want some more opinions then I suggest you ask Smiling, Grieving and Love as well since they are her clones." Jerome cleared up as he went back to leaning against a wall, slightly hoping to find some amusement from the Briars reactions to the topic of Gray.

"It was practically stupid of Gray to betray us in our moment of triumph, but now that I look back, it's just too funny for me to think that we were equals when he easily overpowered me." A second Briar, giggling to herself, then appeared in a cell next to Raging though she wasn't alone like the previous clone.

"I still can't believe he used us, he had the makings of being an addition to our leadership of Avatar. I even trusted him to be like a friend to me." This Briar's voice cracked slightly as if she was ready to cry, much to the annoyance of Raging while Smiling tried to cheer her up. The Fairy Tailers no doubt could tell that she was Grieving and by the process of elimination, that meant that all who was left was Love.

"Never had there been such a great love in my life than the minor one I developed for him, such power and looks would have made us the perfect power couple. If only that blue haired homewrecker didn't get in the way in the end." Love said in a dreamy state, even if it was slightly weird, although the mages left that part alone and focused on the part about the blue haired woman.

"Wait, what about a blue haired homewrecker?" Natsu asked Love, but he was quickly answered by an annoyed Raging.

"Some damn blue haired bimbo that showed up out of nowhere! Declaring Love as her "Love Rival" and blindsiding her with an attack. That traitor Gray capitalized on our distraction and froze us instantly." A collective metaphorical light bulb lit up in each of the Fairy Tailers heads as to who she was talking about, but that made it all the more confusing as it meant Juvia had another reason to be there.

"But it doesn't matter anymore since you killed him, right? I knew Gray was being too big for his britches when he said he'd destroy E.N.D., if he ever bothered to keep his clothes on that is." Smiling directed her claim to Natsu before she went into a fit of giggles at her own joke, but it was starting to feel like every prisoner here was going to keep beating this dead horse to him.

"Hmph, I wanted to be the one to end Gray, but at least you saved me the trouble." Raging commented in snarky manner, but rolled her eyes as Grieving began to hiccup her words into nonsensical sounds.

"Twas best to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all, as the saying goes." Love added as she moved onto her personal imaginings about the ice mage's final bout. "Hopefully he went out fighting with that amazing power of his rippling off of him."

"No wonder you were all part of a cult, all of you are freaking weird." Natsu said aloud as the only thing he wanted was to leave this place already. "Especially all the Briars, I mean shouldn't this be putting a strain on you since you're using magic in an anti-magic cell?"

"You'd think so, but she brought that upon herself. The Council wanted her to fuse together once again, but that turned into a bad idea and now they constructed specially made cells for them." Jerome clarified as Raging goaded her other selves into a jail break, but were no match for the amount of guards thrown at them. "Amusing as it was, this became the end result. If you're wondering why Raging is separated from the others, then it's because she would most likely lose her mind and try to "erase" the other copies herself."

"This was helpful," Natsu sarcastically said as he turned his back to the Avatar prisoners. "Let's go home, we've got all we need."

"Spit on his grave for me will you?" Jerome asked with a smirk, satisfied that even if he's in prison, at least he wasn't six feet under.

"Me too"

"Write a funny face on his tombstone for me!"

"A farewell note on my behalf..."

"And a single dead rose for the love that hadn't had a chance to bloom."

 _"Yup, freaking weird..."_ The group thought to themselves as the left the ultra security wing behind, each of them lost in thought as to the colorful people Gray had met over his lifetime.

* * *

The Fairy Tailers were reunited with Jura and had told him that their business in the cells were concluded. He noticed some of the deflated behavior amongst the mages and understood that whatever answers they hoped to find here drew up blanks. After the many years he's worked alongside Fairy Tail and the involvement he had with their guild for a time, he wished he had something more to offer them. No one said a word until they began riding the elevator back up and the dragon slayer was ready to double over in sickness.

"I guess this a regular sight when dealing with a dragon slayer, is it not?" Jura asked as he lifted Natsu up off the floor, but his words seemed to have had an effect on Erza.

"Do you know anything about devil slayers, Jura?" The requip mage was rather expectant for a positive answer as the bald mage had a wealth of knowledge at his disposal for being one of the four Great Kings of Ishgar.

"I'm afraid I don't. Dragon, angel and god slayers have a number of documents about them within the Council's archives, but a devil slayer has never been mentioned before, why?"

"Because the person we are searching for was a devil slayer years ago, so he had to have originated somewhere that required such magic." Erza hypothesized since the history of dragon slayers came from a result of necessity to combat dragons, so the case may be the same about devils.

"Only one accord of a demon slaying stems from Brago, to the best of my knowledge; however, it was done by a powerful ice wizard. Not this slayer you're looking for." Jura had remembered that that piece of history had passed through at one point when a history revision was being established for the surrounding area of Fiore.

"I remember that, Yuki said that it was done by Lyon's master Ur. She mentioned the monster's name, Deliora." Lucy interjected as she recalled Lyon's expression when he discovered that his master had been written down into Brago's history.

"Correct, it was causing numerous amounts of chaos in the north with major amounts of damage caused to the neighboring country of Isvan." Jura continued until he recalled the fact that the country had been suffering from a demon problem that the royal crown had been asking assistance with from the Kings until recently. "Now that I think of it, Isvan could be a potential place to look for anything regarding your devil slayer. The country has had a problem with demons for quite some time, so if the necessity of a devil slayer was needed, then there you go."

"It could be a decent enough place to start I guess." Lisanna answered as Erza nodded in agreement as she knew what would be their next move.

"It sure would be, so we are heading back to Fairy Tail and picking up Yuki." Erza said as she began regaining a sense of hope now that another lead had emerged from what she thought was the end. "We're going on a road trip."

* * *

 **A/N:** _Sorry for not posting anything in quite a while, courses have been keeping me very busy and I've finally found some time to get through this chapter. I'm hoping this doesn't continue, but I can't predict the future. I'll post chapters when I have the chance though I don't know if I'll leave a note at the end like I did with this one, but I haven't given up on this fic yet! Thank you to those readers who have waited patiently for this chapter and sorry for the long wait and though my time has become a bit occupied, the story will go on!_


	19. A Moment Long Awaited

A Moment Long Awaited

Yuki had tried everything in her power to dissuade Erza from going to Isvan as she didn't want to bother her master with the scarlet head and her team showing up out of nowhere to bother him. Sadly she was shut down and the young ice mage was busy filling up her duffle bag with a few clothes for her trip back home, but she had the right mind of informing her master ahead of time let him know. With a great stroke of luck, Yuki discovered that he was leaving the country for Seven very soon. The little ice mage couldn't lie to herself that she was saddened that he wouldn't be home when she'd go back, but that meant that there was nothing to worry about. Of course, there was the problem of where she should take everyone since they looked to her as a guide although she was willing to just take them to New Deliora since it was one of the larger towns in Isvan.

That also gave her an opportunity to have a very articulate ally at her side as she knew the guild master of the Ice Zeroths would be able to get through to them one way or another, plus Ice Zeroths should give them a good sense of being home away from home. It was almost the same as Fairy Tail except for the great number of interesting brawls that happen and a fighting obsessed dragon slayer to bother anyone for a fight. Maybe then they could see that her master wasn't all that bad of a guy because it's been feeling like Erza has been rather cautious when regarding him. Master Gray hasn't said much about what happened the day he came to visit, but she couldn't help but think of him walking away because of the way Erza reacted to him. Yuki knew that Erza meant well, but for some reason the scarlet head hasn't been acting like herself recently and seems to be focused on a specific thing. Which would most likely made the requip mage want to go to Isvan all of a sudden, though it wasn't going to be easy because of a certain person.

As much as Yuki had caved under Erza, she knew the requip mage was hard pressed when trying to get Cana to agree to let Yuki go with them on their trip back to her home country. Ca...her mother, who seemed to be just babying her now that she found out she was her daughter, didn't want to be separated from her and as much as it was annoying, Yuki knew that the warm feeling in her heart was because of her. It felt like an eternity since this feeling swelled up in her, ever since her mother had died she couldn't get the feeling of a caring mother from the people she had met aside from Erza and though they had their differences before, Cana had managed to fill the role just fine. Her mother (Mom, maybe?) had chosen not to tell the guild yet, but for what reason was beyond anything Yuki could guess although she had a strange feeling about why she was told to be at the guild before they left by her mom.

In about half an hour, Yuki had finished packing her bag and decided that it was time she head to the guild and figure out what her Mom wanted. It really was going to be some time for Yuki to refer Cana as Mom since it just didn't feel like it would stick, but she be damned if she didn't make the effort to at least try. Though once she made it to the guild, her resolve wavered slightly and she couldn't believe she was getting something as cliche as cold feet from going inside and finding out what her mom had in store. She sucked in a brave breath of air and pushed the doors open to see everyone behaving as normal as they were, of course the term was being used as loosely as possible as it was Fairy Tail until she caught sight of her mom signalling her from the stage.

 _ **"What with everyone and announcing things on the damn stage!?"**_ Yuki knew the she'd do something to tell everyone about their relationship, but Cana wanted to make it a spectacle as her announcement of being Gildarts' daughter was alright although she'll make this one better. Yuki quickly got on stage with her mom and fiddled with her fingers as Cana smiled brightly at her, before sending some signal towards Mira and the spotlights landed on the both of them.

"Alright everyone, hopefully you guys aren't standing up soon because I've got news that'll knock you back down!" Everyone in the guild hall cheered at her, but had no real idea what she had for them and for some reason Yuki felt that the spotlights were starting to burn her up.

"What is it Cana, you beat your drinking record again?" Wakaba joked as Macao gave him a high five, but the brunette merely rolled her eyes at them and Natsu stood up this time with glee.

"Is Gildarts going to host a fighting tournament and he'll fight the winner!?" The entire guild burst into laughter as Natsu would be the only one to come to that conclusion if Cana was making an announcement.

"No Natsu he's not and we all know that he could still probably beat you." Cana replied as even she wouldn't want to announce that, she'd rather her old man do it himself if he was the one holding it. "You guys don't have any great guesses do you?"

"If it's anything like trivia night, then you're damn sure we suck at guessing!" Bickslow yelled out and that got the guild going again as everyone save for Lucy and Levy was terrible at knowing just about anything. Though it was a fun night nonetheless once Gajeel and Natsu went head to head about knowing more about dragons than the other, even though a question asking that never came up.

"Settle down, settle down. I guess I have to tell the lot of you then." Cana waited until the hall grew silent and all eyes were on her, but Yuki was growing rather flustered with the multitude of eyes on her. "I'm a mother!"

The guild hall went deathly silent as the news began registering in everyone's minds, except for Lisanna and Erza who had already known before hand about the recent development as they were there after Cana found out about it herself. Silence prevailed before Mira began to clap, soon followed by Elfman and surprisingly by Loke who had decided to materialize after hearing it from the Celestial World. It wasn't long before more people joined in and the cheers soon began to follow while a few guys' jaws had yet to be picked up off the floor at the revelation. Many of which were guilty for trying to hit on her without proper knowledge that she was already with someone and more so for those who tried when she was drinking away the day.

"Don't worry Cana, I'll support you all the way! I won't abandon either of you!" Loke jokingly said to ease the tension in a few other guild mates, but a different effect had occurred as everyone glared at the spirit. "What?"

"You better hope you do, no more of that playboy attitude, understand!? You've got a kid on the way!" Evergreen reprimanded the spirit and that earned a burst of laughter from Natsu although Lucy was a different matter.

"You were with Cana for this long and hadn't bothered telling me? What happened to trusting me?" Lucy couldn't believe her spirit wouldn't tell her something as important as seeing a guild mate, she didn't want to know about those random girls he flirts with but a guild mate is a different story.

"Relax Lucy, not even in his wildest dreams will I'll let him ever touch this sanctuary in that way." The brunette said as the girls began making for the stage in anticipation of all the things they were going to get her, but a prevalent question came up that Gajeel braved to ask.

"Then who's the dad?" What the iron dragon slayer didn't expect was to be met with an awkward stare and silence as he would've thought she'd be open about it, but the brunette steeled herself and with a shaky breath, she began to speak.

"I've been told that the dad has passed away, but he loved the both of us very much while he was still around." It surprised Cana greatly that she felt so emotional about Gray, but even if she couldn't remember the months they spent together while she was pregnant, Cana could almost feel the love he had for her at the time.

"Don't be sad Cana, tell us if you think it'll be a boy or girl" Mira tried to cheer the brunette up and as she wiped an incoming tear away from her eye, the card mage smiled at her for the question.

"I know it's a girl and I hope you all are ready to meet her." With that Cana strode over towards the part of the stage Yuki was trying to hide at and lead her back to the front of the stage, placing the young ice mage right in front her. "Everyone meet my daughter, Yuki."

"What!?"

Yuki watched as the shocked faces of everyone she's come to know look at her then at her mother right behind, trying very hard to make the connection although it was pretty apparent if you tried a little hard enough. Though she knew it was going to be a long day now that the guild knew that Yuki Mizuno was the daughter of Cana Alberona, which wasn't helped by the fact that Gildarts had mysteriously appeared onto the stage with his arms hugging both mother and daughter. Claiming that he is the grandfather of Yuki, which soon started another tirade of confused guild mates talking over each other on a number of things about this. From there, the young ice mage had decided that it was going to be an even longer day and couldn't wait for the trip to Isvan now.

* * *

In a hidden location on one of the borders of Fiore lay a headquarters of a dark mage organization known as Shadow Hand, hidden from public eye and known only to very select circles of dark guilds that were still active. Not many were brave enough to conquer their territory because of their ferocity very few gained access into being a part of the guild until recently. The decisions had changed to allow any who wish about several months ago, but it came at a price. As of the moment, inside the master's office was a heated discussion between two associates nearing it's conclusion.

"I'm telling you this once again Jose, those bumbling idiots you sent to retrieve my daughters failed so miserably that I'm wondering if you even take me serious anymore!" Joseph Harbinger said, trying to keep his calm as the dark mage had been avoiding his calls for months with minor communication when he did pick up.

"And like I've told you before, I knew they would fail beforehand. I wasn't about to send my more...experienced mages to go after them when I knew it wouldn't benefit me on losing them." Jose Porla, former Phantom Lord guild master now turned dark mage, replied as he was no idiot when it came to the name of Absolute Zero.

Jose had no real want to speak with Harbinger, but he couldn't ignore him forever so this was the time he'd talk to him. As annoying as it was, it had to be done and Jose was glad there weren't any papers around his office that he'd throw if it went bad. Though that had remained to be seen and watched as the auburn haired man chose his words before replying to him.

"Don't patronize me Jose, I'm funding your pathetic little band of mages in accordance to our deal. So long as you get my money, you will listen to my requests with the utmost respect and endeavor to complete them." It was a deal established for years, but as of late Harbinger has seen the apathetic nature his "business partner" has had with him.

"My "pathetic little band" is well worth all the money you have been sending us, that I can assure you. As for your daughters, they have made it to the safety of Fairy Tail although not for long." How convinent for Jose to have all his plans converging with one another in a neat little package.

"I know about your vendetta against Fairy Tail, so if my daughters are hurt in any way, shape or form then are deal will be over and I'll place very desirable bounties on each of your heads. That is to say if Fairy Tail doesn't finish you off first." Joseph watched the disgusted twitch of Porla's upper lip and knew that his buttons were pushed very hard.

"Say what you will, but Fairy Tail will fall before my boot and not a single hair on your daughters' heads will be touched. As long as the awarded amount is given to us accordingly of course."

"You'll get your money once I get my daughters, since I'll be gaining much more once those two wenches are wedded off." His other venture involving his daughters was still on the table for Joseph, but he needed to get them back before the suitors backed out. "I'll make it easier for you; if you fail to bring both back then I'll settle on you bringing back my eldest, Madeline."

"And the reward?"

"You'll still get every cent of it, no questions asked. You'll be a very rich man Jose, don't make me regret giving you and your group this opportunity."

"Oh you won't regret a single thing, Mr. Harbinger." Jose replied, chuckling darkly before cutting the communications lacrima off. "Everything's coming together very nicely, soon I will have my revenge."

"What do you mean by just _your_ revenge, this will be _our_ revenge." Jose turned sharply to see the one glowing eye of his more influential backer as he walked into the light; his ears twitching with every sound and his frightening grin showing his sharp teeth.

"Ah Jackal, I wasn't informed that you've returned." Jose said as he put away the lacrima, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as the demon was making his way through the office.

"The idiot at the door was asleep, so he couldn't tell you." He snarkily replied as his disdain for humans was still prevalent even if he was stuck in hiding with them. "I made sure to wake him up before coming in."

"Did you now, then why hasn't he come in yet to tell me so himself?" Porla didn't like to question the demon on account that he was far more powerful than him, but they made a pact to see each other as equals so long as their goal was to destroy Fairy Tail.

"Because he went off to the infirmary." Jackal replied with a laugh, but Jose daringly raised an eyebrow as to what he meant by that. "I blew the moron's hand off for not being awake to announce my arrival. Shows you not to sleep on the job."

Jose had given up on trying to get the demon to stop dismembering members of his guild and so far it was still a mountain to climb. They've lost several members due to Jackal losing his temper and blowing them up, but it instilled fear in those that remained and made sure they were loyal to the organization.

"We need these "morons" for the plan to work, we'll be bulldozed if we don't have a sufficient force to take them on with." He lost the last time for relying on the Elemental Four and Gajeel to stop them, but not this time and those traitors will pay dearly for joining the enemy.

"They're merely fodder for the weaklings in that damned guild, I could eliminate them all myself." Jackal replied as he caused miniature explosions to appear within his palm before pointing his hand towards a chair and obliterating it from existence. "But what I'm really after is that damn blonde bitch that did this to me, she'll suffer long before I'll let her die."

Ah yes, Lucy Heartfilia the ever annoying brat that caused him to lose so much because of a request from her father. As much as he wanted to take his revenge on her as well, it was shadowed by his hatred for Makarov and the entirety of his guild. But it didn't take a genius to know why Jackal wanted his revenge on the blonde, for what was left of him because of some sort of attack she did.

"I know you're looking at what the bitch did to me, but I've never told you how it all turned to this." Jackal had always seen the prying eyes of these filthy humans when they took a gander at his body, but no one really knew how it came to be. " My body was still at it's finest once I had recovered, of course I thought I died from her attack but I was wrong in more ways than one.

"I escaped the dreaded city when I discovered the rest of the Gates had been destroyed, but as soon as I went into hiding was when this shit started happening to me. Apparently the celestial magic she used had caused some rift to directly impact my book and my body started to deteriorate. Spent to much damn time trying to figure out how to stop it until I remembered about sacrifices."

"So you went on a human sacrifice spree to stop from falling apart then." Jose knew demons were the cruelest things to exist, not even the hardest killers could top them. "You did what you needed to do to survive, I take it?"

"Fuck no, it didn't help for shit, but killing humans is still pretty fun." He grinned menacingly at how disgusted Porla looked and enjoyed how weak willed humans could be. "I had to remember the "important" things Lamy said to build my own etherious tank, as you can tell it was too shoddy and I came out like this."

Aside from the lost eye e didn't get repaired, his body had been littered with large gashes that exposed muscle for all to see and a portion of his side was missing. How he could live, if demons could even do that, was beyond Jose as it was a sickening sight to see the edge of one of his ribs. It didn't look like he was in pain, but Jackal hated to see how his amazing body now looked.

"How the hell hasn't anything about you been affected by some sort of disease?" Jose had to ask as it was damn near impossible to not be affected by bacteria of any sort with those wounds.

"I don't fucking know! Lamy knows more about our Etherious biology then I do, but if I had to take a guess then it has something to do with how Zeref constructed us."

"He did create the lot of you, so he must have had a way to make sure that your deaths couldn't happen so easily." Jose knew it was best to keep the demon talking since it stopped him from blowing up more members and furniture. "Wait, shouldn't you have been destroyed alongside Zeref when he was killed?"

"He got too full of himself so he didn't create a contingency plan to deal with us once he was gone, or that's what I thought before Zero came into the picture." Jackal let out a low animalistic growl at the mention of the name. "That bastard was brought into the fold by Keyes and now he's the one thing even I won't go near."

"So a demon is actually afraid of something, interesting." Jose commented and within a second, he was being lifted from his shirt at the mercy of Jackal as his curses began to start up in his palm.

"Don't think about getting on a high horse human, everything in this world will kill you so you are use to death, but we demons are different. It takes powerful magic to bring us down, but there is only one who has the power to kill so casually." He dropped Porla onto his ass as he began to pace the room, muttering to himself about how he had survived Tartaros' destruction.

"In any case...Zero has kept to the Northern regions, but an informant has relayed to us that he's leaving the area for Seven." Jose tried to regain his breath as he knew the demon to be unstable and would likely kill him without a second thought. Jackal hadn't killed him yet since he needed a human element to bring this many willing "participants" for their attack.

"So long as he doesn't catch wind of what we are doing, then we should be fine. If not then over half of these humans gathered will be killed by his hand, being half human won't save their lives now that they're tainted with demon essence." Humans were eager creatures to attain great power, so they make great guinea pigs for Jackal in his attempt to reconstruct his body to it's original state.

So far he is coming very close to perfecting the necessary conditions required to fully demonify a human and once he achieves a complete transformation, then he could be whole again. Most of the humans who agreed to become demons have only gained portions of such power, with only minor aesthetics of them although they do prove to be far stronger than the rest. Jackal knew that he's very close, so it was only a matter of time before Fairy Tail would fall beneath a completed demon like they should have from the beginning and Jose has been demanding ways of obtaining greater power for years so...

"I've got news from a sleeper, says that you need to read this right now Boss..es." A grunt said as he walked into the room, regretting the fact that he forgot to knock, but was glad that he was shooed out of the room once he gave Jose the paper with no repercussions.

"Remind me to blow his hand off for not knocking, okay?" Jackal said in an annoyed tone once the human was out of his sight and from earshot. The demon wanted to surprise him when he realizes that his hands missing and wished to enjoy the agony he'll be in before some poor sap had to help him.

"Well, well, well this is rather interesting. It seems luck has been favoring us greatly now." Jose said, but was met with a confused stare form the explosive demon. "It seems that Titania and her team will be leaving the guild for a trip of some sort, Isvan is apparently their destination. Plus if my memory serves me correctly, a guild master summit should be underway at the moment and old reports indicated that Makarov and his grandson have gone to it."

"So..."

"It means that we should move immediately, now's our time to strike when they are at their most defenseless. We'll send some of our best men to deal with Titania and her team in Isvan and the old bastard will be too far away to come to his precious guild's rescue." Jose smiled widely as this has become the moment he had been waiting for ever since he had escaped prison.

"Looks like it's time to blow shit up!" Jackal laughed maniacally before reeling himself in and stared sharply at Jose. "Get those idiots on the move already and when you're done, come meet me in the basement. There's something I want to show you, you might even like it."

Every fiber within Jose told him not to trust the demon, but if he didn't comply then he would surely be killed at his moment of triumph. In the end, he went against his better judgment and agreed to meet up with Jackal as soon as his established team was well under their way towards Isvan to keep those Fairy Tailers their for a long time. The destruction of Fairy Tail was finally at hand, Magnolia will suffer with it and that annoying bastard Harbinger will get his daughters back soon enough. After all, what's a little more cash in Jose's pocket once he destroys Fairy Tail?


End file.
